Symmetric powers and modular invariants of elementary abelian \(p\)-groups (Q2411404)

Let \(G\) be a finite group, \(k\) a field of arbitrary characteristic and \(V\) a finite-dimensional \(kG\)-module. If \(k\) is infinite, the \(k\)-algebra \(k[V]\) of polynomial functions \(V\to k\) is isomorphic as \(kG\)-module to the polynomial ring \(k[x_1,\dots,x_n]\), where the \(x_i\)'s form a basis of \(V^*\); this is graded by total degree. As a \(kG\)-module, the homogeneous component of degree \(d\) in \(k[V]\) is isomorphic to the \(d\)th symmetric power \(S^d(V^*)\) of \(V^*\). The central problem in invariant theory is the study of the algebra of invariants \(k[V]^G\), which is a \(k\)-subalgebra of \(k[V]\) on which \(G\) acts by algebra automorphisms. This problem is harder in case the characteristic of the field divides the order of the group. In this article, the author shows several results, extending previously known ones. In particular, one objective is to prove the following. Suppose \(G\) is elementary abelian of order \(p^n\) and \(k\) is infinite of characteristic \(p\). Given a faithful indecomposable \(kG\)-module \(W\) of dimension \(2\), let \(V=S^m(W)\). If \(m < p\), then \(k[V]^G\) is generated by invariants of degree at most \(2p^n-3\). If \(m < p^n\), then \(k[V]^G/I_{< G}^G\) is generated by invariants of degree at most \(p^n\), where \(I_{< G}^G\) is the ideal of \(k[V]^G\) generated by the images of all the trace (or transfer) maps from proper subgroups of \(G\) to \(G\). In fact, the main body of the article consists of the proof of the following results. Suppose \(G\) is elementary abelian of order \(p^n\), \(k\) is a field of characteristic \(p\) and \(V\) is a faithful indecomposable \(kG\)-module with dimension \(2\). If \(m\), \(d\) are integers with \(m, d < p^n\) and \(m + d \geq p^n\), then \(S^d(S^m(V)^*)\) is projective relative to the set of subgroups of \(G\) with order at most \(m\). If \(m\), \(d\) are integers with \(m < p^n\) and \(d > p^n\), then \(S^d(S^m(V)^*)\cong S^{d'}(S^m(V)^*)\) modulo summands which are projective relative to the set of subgroups of \(G\) with order at most \(m\), where \(d'\equiv d\pmod{p^n}\) with \(0\leq d'< p^n\).