Alperin's conjecture and the subgroup structure of a finite group (Q5928671)

``In this mostly expository paper, we show how information about the subgroup structure of a finite group \(G\) can be used to determine certain numerical invariants of the group. Among the invariants we will consider are the number \(k(G)\) of conjugacy classes of \(G\) and the closely related quantity \(k_\pi(G)\), which is the number of classes of \(\pi\)-elements of \(G\), where \(\pi\) is a set of prime numbers. For each prime \(p\) we will also consider the more subtle invariant \(z_p(G)\), defined to be the number of ordinary irreducible characters of \(G\) that have \(p\)-defect zero.'' If \(p\) does not divide \(|G|\), \(z_p(G)=k(G)\). Fix a prime \(p\). A weight of a finite group \(G\) is an ordered pair \((P,\alpha)\), where \(P\) is a \(p\)-subgroup of \(G\) and the character \(\alpha\in\text{Irr}(N_G(P)/P)\) has \(p\)-defect zero. The group \(G\) acts by conjugation on the set of weights of \(G\) in a natural way. One of the variations of Alperin's weight conjecture (AWC) asserts that the number of \(G\)-orbits of weights of \(G\) equals \(k_{p'}(G)\). Thus, according to the AWC, \[ k_{p'}(G)=\sum_Pz_p(N_G(P)/P)|G:N_G(P)|, \] where the sum is taken over all \(p\)-subgroups \(P\) of \(G\), or, equivalently, \[ |G|/k_{p'}(G)=\sum_Pz_p(N_G(P)/P)|N_G(P)|.\tag{1} \] It follows from (1) that \(k_p(G)\geq z_p(G)\). If \(p\nmid|G|\), we get from AWC that \(k(G)=z_p(G)=|\text{Irr}(G)|\), a standard result of representation theory. It is known that AWC holds for \(p\)-solvable groups, and it has been verified for many other groups, including all symmetric groups, for all primes. We write \(\mathcal N(G)\) to denote the collection of all chains \(\sigma\) of nontrivial \(p\)-subgroups of \(G\) such that each member of \(\sigma\) is normal in the largest. If \(\sigma\) is nonempty, then \(G_\sigma\) is the intersection of the normalizers in \(G\) of all the members of the chain \(\sigma\). If \(\sigma\) is empty, then \(G_\sigma\) is defined as \(G\). Theorem 4.1 (Knörr-Robinson). Assume that the AWC holds for all proper sections of \(G\). Then the AWC holds for \(G\) if and only if \[ |G|z_p(G)=\sum_{\sigma\in\mathcal N(G)}(-1)^{|\sigma|}|G_\sigma|k_{p'}(G_\sigma).\tag{2} \] As Knörr and Robinson observed, if the quantity \(k_{p'}(G_\sigma)\), in the sum on the right side of (2), is replaced by \(k(G)\), then the value of the sum remains unchanged. If \(H\leq G\), then \([H]=\{H^x\mid x\in G\}\), the \(G\)-class of \(H\). Let \(\mathcal H=\{[H]\mid H\leq G\}\). Let \(B([K],[H])\) be the number of \(G\)-conjugates of \(K\) in each conjugate of \(H\). This function can be presented as a square \(|\mathcal H|\times|\mathcal H|\) matrix \(B(G)\) with rows and columns indexed by \(\mathcal H\). In addition to the containment information encoded in \(B(G)\), we shall also need to know the column vector \(O(G)\), indexed by \(\mathcal H\), in which the \([H]\)-entry is \(|H|\), the order of \(H\). Theorem B. Given a finite group \(G\) and a set \(\pi\) of primes, there exists a unique integer-valued function \(f\) defined on \(\mathcal H\) such that \(f([K])=0\) if \(K\) is nonabelian, and such that for every \(H\leq G\), we have \[ |H|k_\pi(H)=\sum_{[K]\in\mathcal H}f([K])B([K],[H]).\tag{3} \] In fact, \(f([K])=0\) unless \(K\) can be generated by two elements. The algorithm yielding the value of \(k_\pi(G)\) is based on formula (3). If, in (3), \(\pi\) contains all prime divisors of \(|G|\), we obtain the algorithm for computing \(k(G)\) (the formula obtained is essentially due to K. A. Hirsch). The following result, together with AWC, underlies the algorithm for computing \(z_p(G)\). Theorem C (Thévenaz). Assume that all sections of \(G\) satisfy the AWC for the prime \(p\). Then there exists a unique integer-valued function \(f\) on \(\mathcal H\) such that \(f([K])=0\) unless \(K'\) is a \(p\)-group, and such that for every \(H\leq G\), we have \[ |H|z_p(G)=\sum_{[K]\in\mathcal H}f([K])B([K],[H]).\tag{4} \] In fact, \(f([K])=0\) unless \(K\) has an elementary Abelian normal Sylow \(p\)-subgroup \(E\) and \(K/E\) can be generated by two commuting elements. By Ito's Theorem on degrees, if a group \(G\) has a normal Sylow \(p\)-subgroup, then \(z_p(G)=0\) (as the author notes, this also follows from Brauer's theorem on vanishing of \(p\)-defect zero irreducible characters on all irregular elements of \(G\)). The similarity of formulas (3) and (4) is fairly surprising.