Tensor product of irreducible characters of \(\mathrm{GL}_2( \mathbb{F}_q)\) (Q7239117)

The \emph{tensor product problem for a finite group \(G\)} is a standard open problem in the representation theory of finite groups. This problem can be considered over the complex numbers, as well as over a field of positive characteristic and it seeks to determine the decomposition formulae for the tensor products of two given irreducible representations of \(G\) into a direct sum of irreducible constituents, together with their multiplicities. \par The paper under review studies the tensor product problem for the example case of the irreducible complex representations of the finite general linear group \(\mathrm{GL}_{2}(q)\) with \(q\) a power of an odd prime number. The authors obtain a complete decomposition of the tensor product of two irreducible representations into irreducible constituents. In particular, they classify those pairs for which the tensor product is multiplicity-free and those having the \emph{unique decomposition property} (meaning that the factors of the tensor product are determined up to permutation and tensoring with a linear representation.) They also characterize the self-dual irreducible representations.