On some simple constituents of the Specht modules of the symmetric groups. (Q5949415)

Let \(L\) be a field and \(S_n\) the symmetric group on \(n\) letters. Given a partition \(\lambda\) of the integer \(n\), we have an \(LS_n\)-module \(S^\lambda\) called the Specht module corresponding to \(\lambda\). The representation theory of \(S_n\) is well known in characteristic zero. The set of Specht modules, with \(\lambda\) running through the partitions of \(n\), forms a full set of representatives of the non-isomorphic simple \(LS_n\)-modules.NEWLINENEWLINE If the characteristic of \(L\) is prime, say \(p\), the Specht modules are not necessarily simple. However, if the partition \(\lambda\) is \(p\)-regular, the head of \(S^\lambda\), denoted by \(D^\lambda\), is simple and they cover all the non-isomorphic simple modules, with \(\lambda\) running through the \(p\)-regular partitions of \(n\).NEWLINENEWLINE To have information about the simple constituents of the Specht modules is one of the main concerns of this paper. The author shows that there is a \(p\)-regular branch \(\mu\) of \(\lambda\) such that \(D^\mu\) is a constituent of \(S^\lambda\) whenever \(\lambda\) is \(p\)-regular (cf. Theorem 2 of Section 3). An example shows that this assertion is not always true when \(\lambda\) is \(p\)-singular (cf. Example 3 of Section 2). Also he establishes some fundamental properties of branches.