On the unit groups of Burnside rings (Q909022)

Let G be a finite group and let A(G) be the Burnside ring of right G- sets. A super class function is an integer-valued function on the set of all subgroups of G that is constant on conjugacy classes. A G-set X gives rise to a super class function whose value at the subgroup S is \(| X^ S|\), the number of fixed points of S on X. This construction gives an embedding of the Burnside ring in the ring of all super class functions. \textit{T. tom Dieck} [Transformation groups and representation theory (Lect. Notes Math. 766, 1979; Zbl 0445.57023)] showed by geometric methods that if V is a finitely generated \({\mathbb{R}}G\)-module, then the super class function \(S\mapsto sgn \dim V^ S\) is in the Burnside ring. The author here gives an algebraic proof of this result; in fact, he shows that for a \({\mathbb{C}}G\)-module V with real-valued character, \(S\mapsto sgn \dim_{{\mathbb{C}}}V^ S\) is in the Burnside ring. Here, sgn n\(=(-1)^ n\). This provides a homomorphism, called the tom Dieck homomorphism, from the additive group of the ring of real-valued virtual characters of G to the group \(A(G)^*\) of units of the Burnside ring. It is shown that \(A(G)^*\) is a G-functor, and the tom Dieck homomorphism is a morphism of such. It follows that \(A(G)^*\) is a module over the localization \(A(G)_{(2)}\) of A(G) at the prime 2. Denote the action of \(a\in A(G)_{(2)}\) on \(u\in A(G)^*\) by \(u\uparrow a.\) There are idempotents \(e_{G,Q}\) of \(A(G)_{(2)}\) associated with each conjugacy class of subgroups Q of G that are 2-perfect, i.e., have no subgroup of index 2. It is shown that \(A(G)^*=\prod_{Q}A(G)^*\uparrow e_{G,Q}.\) Further, \(A(G)^*\uparrow e_{G,Q}\cong A(N)^*\uparrow e_{N,Q}\cong (A(P)^*)^ N\uparrow e_{P,Q},\) where \(N=N_ G(Q)\), and P/Q is an \(S_ 2\) subgroup of N/Q. Here, \((A(P)^*)^ N\) consists of those elements x of \(A(P)^*\) such that for any \(n\in N\), the restriction of x to \(P\cap P^ n\) coincides with that of the conjugate \(x^ n\); another theorem gives a different description of this group. The paper concludes with some miscellaneous results on the groups \(A(G)^*\). By studying the case where the \(S_ 2\) subgroups are abelian, the author is able to compute \(| A(G)^*|\) for G a finite projective special linear group or the Janko group \(J_ 1\).