Remarks on Computing Irreducible Characters (Q4024447)

Let \(G\) be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over a finite field \(F_ q\) and let \(G(F_ q)\) be the finite group of all rational points of \(G\). Then the author presents a method for computing the character table of \(G(F_ q)\) under the assumption that \(\text{char }F_ q=p\) is sufficiently large. Let \({\mathcal A}\) be the vector space of class functions \(G(F_ q)\to \overline {Q}_ \ell\) (\(\ell\) a prime number different from \(p\)). Let \(A_ 1\) be the orthonormal basis of \({\mathcal A}\) consisting of ``almost characters'' [see the author, Characters of reductive groups over a finite field (Ann. Math. Stud. 107, 1984; Zbl 0556.20033)]. Let \({\mathcal A}^ 0\) be the space of all functions in \({\mathcal A}\) which are orthogonal to the Deligne-Lusztig virtual character \(R_ L^ G(f)\) for any proper Levi subgroup \(L\) of \(G\) defined over \(F_ q\) and any virtual character \(f\) on \(L(F_ q)\). Let \({\mathcal Z}\) be the centre of \(G\). The group \({\mathcal Z}(F_ q)\) acts naturally on the vector space \({\mathcal A}\) by \((t_ z f)(g)=f(zf)\) for all \(z\in {\mathcal Z}(F_ q)\), \(f\in{\mathcal A}\), \(g\in G(F_ q)\). It is known that this action of \({\mathcal Z}(F_ q)\) stabilizes the sets \(A_ 1\) and \(A_ 2=A_ 1\cap{\mathcal A}^ 0\). Picking an element \(\beta\in A_ 2\) in each \({\mathcal Z}(F_ q)\)-orbit on \(A_ 2\). Denote by \(I_ \beta\) the isotropy group in \({\mathcal Z}(F_ q)\). For each character \(\zeta: {\mathcal Z}(F_ q)\to \overline {Q}_ \ell^*\), define \(\beta(\zeta)=| I_ \beta|^{-1} \sum_{z\in {\mathcal Z}(F_ q)} \zeta(z^{-1})t_ z\beta\). Let \(A_ 3\) be the set of all such functions \(\beta(\zeta)\). Thus the main result of this paper is to reduce the computation of the character table of \(G(F_ q)\) to the finding of several explicit relations. The last one of such relations is the expressions of elements of \(A_ 3\) as linear combinations of irreducible characters of \(G(F_ q)\). Note that the key theorem for the above reduction was obtained by Kawanaka in the case when \(G\) has rank \(\leq 8\). The author proves it in the general case. But the techniques applied in their proofs are different.