Central ideals and Cartan invariants of symmetric algebras. (Q2575690)

Given a field \(k\) of characteristic \(p>0\) and a \(k\)-algebra \(A\) Richard Brauer observed that the mapping sending an element \(a\) of \(A\) to \(a^p\) in \(A\) induces an additive mapping \(\mu\) on \(A/KA\) where \(KA\) is the \(k\)-subspace generated by commutators in \(A\). He defined \(TA\) to be those elements in \(A\) which lie in the kernel of some power of \(\mu\). Brauer then showed that the dimension of \(A/TA\) is the number of isomorphism classes of simple \(A\)-modules and used this to prove that for a group algebra of a finite group \(G\) the number of isomorphism classes of simple \(kG\)-modules is just the number of conjugacy classes of \(p\)-regular elements in \(G\). Külshammer then defined \(T_n(A)\) to be those \(a\in A\) which lie in the kernel of the \(n\)-th power of \(\mu\). For symmetric algebras, such as group rings, Külshammer looks at the orthogonal spaces \(T_n(A)^\perp\) of \(T_n(A)\) with respect to the symmetrising form on \(A\). The spaces \(T_n(A)^\perp\) form a decreasing sequence of ideals of the centre of \(A\). In the paper under review the authors obtain several improvements of these situations in case \(k\) is algebraically closed. First, they show that \((T_1(A)^\perp)^3=T_1(A)^\perp\cdot T_2(A)^\perp\) and that this is equal to \(Z_0(A)\), the sum of the centres of the simple algebras which are direct factors of \(A\). If \(p\) is odd, then already \((T_1(A)^\perp)^2=Z_0(A)\). If \(p=2\) then the authors show that the dimension of \((T_1(A)^\perp)^2\) is equal to the number of those ring direct summands of \(A\) which have an odd diagonal Cartan entry. Finally the authors show that under a Morita equivalence between the symmetric algebras \(A\) and \(B\) the known isomorphism of the centres of \(A\) and \(B\) maps the ideals \(T_n(A)^\perp\) to \(T_n(B)^\perp\). The authors ask if this might be true as well for derived equivalences. In a forthcoming paper the question is answered to the positive by the reviewer.