Matrices for finite group representations that respect Galois automorphisms (Q6130273)

Let \(H\) be a finite group, \(\tau \in \mathsf{Aut}(H)\) of order \(r\) and let \(L/K\) be a Galois extension of fields of characteristic zero with cyclic Galois group \(\mathsf{Gal}(L/K) = \langle \sigma \rangle\) of order \([L:K]=r\). Let \(\rho: H \rightarrow \mathsf{GL}(n,L)\) be an absolutely irreducible representation such that the action of \(\tau\) on the character representation of the representation \(\rho\) is the same as the action of \(\sigma\). In the paper under review the author studies the question whether it is possible to conjugate \(\rho\) to a representation \(\rho' : H \rightarrow \mathsf{GL}(n, L)\) with the property that the Galois automorphism \(\sigma\) acts on matrices in the same way as \(\tau\) acts on \(H\). In Theorem 1.1 it is proved that the condition mentioned above is equivalent to the fact that the induced representation \(\mathsf{ind}_{H,H \rtimes \langle \sigma \rangle}(\rho)\) has Schur index one (that is, it is similar to a representation over \(K\)). The proof makes use of an invariant \(\lambda(\rho)\) in the relative Brauer group \(\mathsf{Br}(L/K) \simeq K^{\times}/ N_{L/K}(L^{\times})\) which encodes essential information about the representation induced by \(\rho\).