Hochschild cohomology of symmetric groups and generating functions. II (Q6042368)

The authors determine invariants associated to the Hochschild cohomology of \(p\)-blocks of the symmetric group algebra \(kS_{n}\) (for \(k\) a field of prime characteristic \(p\)) in great detail. They first prove that each \(p\)-block \(B\) of positive defect of \(S_{n}\) has \(HH^{1}(B) \neq 0,\) a consequence of a more precise Theorem 1.2, where formulae for the dimension of \(HH^{1}(B_{pw})\) are given where \(B_{pw}\) is the principal \(p\)-block of \(S_{pw}\) (these formulae differ slightly for \(p = 2\) and \(p\)-odd. Since the Hochschild cohomology of a block is invariant under derived equivalence (by work of \textit{J. Chuang} and \textit{R. Rouquier} [Ann. Math. (2) 167, No. 1, 245--298 (2008; Zbl 1144.20001)]), these formulae determine \[ HH^{1}(kS_{n}) \] for all \(n\). In Theorem 1.3, the authors give (for each \(r\)), a relationship between generating functions for the \(HH^{r}(B_{pn})\) and the dimensions of \(Z(B_{pn})\) with the quotient being a rational function of \(t\) with zero constant term. For the full symmetric group algebra, the corresponding quotient of power series is a rational function of \(t^{p}\) with zero constant term. For Part I see [the authors, ``Hochschild cohomology of symmetric groups and generating functions'', J. Group Theory (to appear; \url{doi:10.1515/jgth-2022-0130})].