Values of character sums for finite unitary groups. (Q949591)

For the general linear group \(\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{F}_q)\) and unitary group \(\text{U}(n,\mathbb{F}_{q^2})\) over a finite field it is known that the sum of the irreducible character degrees gives the number of symmetric matrices in the group. For general linear groups this result was extended by \textit{J. Fulman} and \textit{R. Guralnick} [J. Algebra 275, No. 1, 356-396 (2004; Zbl 1065.20065)], where sums of irreducible characters evaluated at arbitrary elements are considered. The main purpose of the paper under review is to perform the analogous extension for unitary groups. The authors rely on a model for the unitary group which can be found in their paper [Adv. Math. 210, No. 2, 707-732 (2007; Zbl 1124.20031)], and also a calculation of the permutation character of \(\text{U}(2n,\mathbb{F}_{q^2})\) on \(\text{Sp}(2n,\mathbb{F}_{q^2})\), which is achieved in this paper. The computations in the paper involve Deligne-Lusztig induction, Gel'fand-Graev characters and Hall-Littlewood functions, among other things. The final section of the paper contains some probabilistic translations of the main results.