Character sums attached to finite reductive groups (Q5930110)

Let \(\mathbb{G}\) be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over a finite field \(\mathbb F_q\), with Frobenius map \(F\), and let \(G=\mathbb{G}^F\) be the finite group consisting of elements in \(\mathbb{G}\) fixed by \(F\). Let \(R\colon G\to\text{GL}_m(\mathbb C)\) be an ordinary represention of \(G\) and \(\psi\) a complex-valued class function on \(G\), which depends only on the semisimple part of each element in \(G\). The authors consider the following sum: \[ W_G(R,\psi)=\sum_{g\in G}R(g) \psi(g). \] Let \(\tau_W(\chi_R)\) be the trace of \(W(R,\psi)\), where \(\chi_R\) denotes the character of \(R\). We can extend \(\tau_W\) to a complex-valued function on the Grothendieck group of generalized characters of \(G\). If \(R\) is irreducible, then \(W(R,\psi)=w(R)\text{I}_m\) for some complex number \(w(R)\), where \(\text{I}_m\) is the identity matrix of degree \(m\). It is first shown that \[ \tau_W(R_T^G(\theta))=\frac{|G|}{|T|} \sum_{t\in T}\theta(t)\psi(t), \] for each Deligne-Lusztig generalized character \(R_T^G(\theta)\) of \(G\). In particular, if \(\theta\) is in general position, then \[ w(\varepsilon_G\varepsilon_TR_T^G(\theta))= \varepsilon_G\varepsilon_T|G|_p\sum_{t\in T}\theta(t)\psi(t), \] where \(\varepsilon_H=(-1)^{\text{rel. rank} \mathbb{H}}\), for \(\mathbb{H}=\mathbb{G},\mathbb{T}\). Applying this result to Gaussian sums and Kloosterman sums attached to finite classical groups, the authors obtain explicit formulae of these sums related with \(R_T^G(\theta)\), when \(\pm R_T^G(\theta)\) is irreducible. Also combining this result with the Davenport-Hasse type relations of Kloosterman sums and unitary Kloosterman sums proved in [J. Algebra 216, 431-447 (1999; Zbl 1024.11077)] by \textit{C. Curtis} and the second author, they can explicitly determine the values of these sums for every irreducible character when the rank of the group is low. Especially, they give a table of Gaussian sums attached to \(\text{SP}_4(q)\), with \(q\) odd. Kloosterman sums over \(\text{GL}_n(q)\) are also considered, and properties and conjectures of these sums for unipotent characters are given.