Irreducible characters of finite simple groups constant at the \(p\)-singular elements (Q509913)

In this paper, irreducible characters of \(p\)-defect \(0\) are studied, where \(p\) is a prime dividing the order of a finite group. These are exactly the characters vanishing at the \(p\)-singular elements. In this paper, the authors generalize this notion investigating the irreducible characters that are constant at the \(p\)-singular elements and determine all such characters of non-zero defect for alternating, symmetric and sporadic simple groups. They also classified the irreducible characters of quasi-simple groups of Lie type that are constant at the non-identity unipotent elements. In particular, it is show that, for groups of BN-pair rank greater than \(2\), the Steinberg and the trivial characters are the only characters in question. Additionally, all irreducible characters whose degrees differ by \(1\) from the degree of the Steinberg character are determined.