\(U_{n}(q)\) acting on flags and supercharacters (Q514196)

Let \(U=U_n(q)\) be the group of lower unitriangular \(n\times n\) matrices over the Galois field \(\mathbb F_q\) for some prime power \(q\) and \(n\in\mathbb N\). The restriction to \(U\) of the permutation action of the group \(\mathrm{GL}_n(q)\) on flags in the natural \(\mathrm{GL}_n(q)\)-module \(\mathbb F_q^n\) is investigated. These results are applied to the case of flags of length two to obtain a complete decomposition of the permutation representation of \(\mathrm{GL}_n(q)\) on the cosets of maximal parabolic subgroups into irreducible \(\mathbb CU\)-modules.