Characters of \(\pi'\)-degree and small cyclotomic fields (Q2663149)

A line of research in representation theory of finite groups is to study the field of values of a character (that is the smallest field containing all values of a given character). \textit{G. Navarro} and \textit{P. H. Tiep} in [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 360, No. 5, 2443--2465 (2008; Zbl 1137.20009)] proved that a finite group has even order if and only if it possesses a nontrivial irreducible character with rational field of values, developing a classical result of Burnside; furthermore, they proved in the same paper a conjecture of R. Gow stating that every finite group of even order has a nontrivial irreducible character with odd degree and rational field of values. The first result proven in the paper under review is the somewhat surprising Theorem A: Let \(G\) be a finite group, let \(q\) be an odd prime and \(\pi= \{2, q\}\). Then, \(G\) possesses a nontrivial \(\pi'\)-degree irreducible character with field of values contained in \(\mathbb{Q}(e^{2\pi i/q})\) if and only if \((|G|, 2q) \not = 1\). A problem suggested by Theorem A is to understand when the irreducible character it identifies can be chosen to be rational. This is not always the case, in contrast to what happens if we allow small cyclotomic field extensions of \(\mathbb{Q}\) as fields of values, as described by Theorem A. For example, the only rational linear character of \(\mathsf{A}_{4}\) is the trivial one. A complete answer appears difficult, however, in the case where \(G\) is a solvable group or an alternating group, the authors completely solve this problem. In particular, they prove the following results. Theorem B: Let \(G\) be a solvable group, \(q\) be an odd prime and \(\pi= \{2, q\}\). Then, \(G\) admits a nontrivial rational irreducible character of \(\pi'\)-degree if and only if \(H/H'\) has even order, where \(H\) is a \(\pi\)-Hall subgroup of \(G\). Theorem D: Let \(n \geq 5\) be an integer, let \(p, q\) be distinct primes and \(\pi = \{p, q\}\). The alternating group \(\mathsf{A}_{n}\) admits a nontrivial rational irreducible character of \(\pi'\)-degree for all those \(n \in \mathbb{N}\) that do not satisfy any of the following conditions (up to possibly interchanging the primes \(p\) and \(q\)): (i) \(n = p^{m} = 2q^{k} + 1\), for some \(m, k \in \mathbb{N}\) such that \(m\) is odd; (ii) \(n = 2p^{m} = q^{k} + 1\), for some \(m, k\in \mathbb{N}\) such that \(k\) is odd.