A remark on the Alperin-McKay conjecture. (Q2567319)

Let \(G\) be a finite group, let \(p\) be a prime, let \(\text{Irr}(G)\) denote the (ordinary) irreducible characters of \(G\) and let \(B\) be a \(p\)-block of \(G\). If \(\chi\in\text{Irr}(G)\) and \(\chi\in B\), then, as usual, the \(p\)-height \(\text{ht}(\chi)\) is defined. Define an \(N\)-height by \(\text{ht}_N(\chi)=\text{ht}(\chi)-\text{ht}(\xi)\) where \(\xi\) is any irreducible constituent of the restriction \(\chi_N\) of \(\chi\) to \(N\). It is known that \(\text{ht}_N(\chi)\geq 0\) always. Let \(D\) be a defect group of \(B\) and let \(k_0(B)\) denote the number of irreducible characters in \(B\) of height 0. The Alperin-McKay conjecture is: (AM) If \(\widehat B\) is the Brauer correspondent of \(B\) in \(N_G(D)\), then \(k_0(B)=k_0(\widehat B)\). For any integer \(h\geq 0\), let \(\text{Irr}_0(B,N,h)=\{\chi\in\text{Irr}(B)\mid\text{ht}_N(\chi)=0\) and \(\text{ht}(\chi)=h\}\) and let \(k_0(B,N,h)=|\text{Irr}_0(B,N,h)|\). The main result of this paper is: Theorem. Let \(\widetilde B\) be the Brauer correspondent of \(B\) in \(N_G(D)N\). Assume that (AM) is true for any block of any central extension of any subgroup of \(G/N\). Then \(k_0(B,N,h)=k_0(\widetilde B,N,h)\) for any integer \(h\geq 0\). In particular, \(k_0(B,N)=k_0 (\widetilde B,N)\). -- The proof uses a Clifford theoretic approach.