Symmetric group fixed quotients of polynomial rings

Let \(\mathbf k\) be a commutative ring with unit and \(U\) -- a representation of a finite group \(G\) over \(\mathbf k\). Then there are two natural \(\mathbf kG\)-modules one can associate to \(U\) on which G acts trivially -- the fixed space \(U^G\) and the cofixed space \(U_G\), which is the largest \(\mathbf k\)-module quotient of \(U\) carrying trivial \(G\)-action. As \(\mathbf k\)-modules, the fixed space and the cofixed space are nearly dual to each other, with \((U_G)^*\cong (U^*)^G\). When \(U\) is a \(\mathbf k\)-algebra \(S\) and \(G\) acts on \(S\) by \(\mathbf k\)-algebra automorphisms, the fixed space \(S^G\) is itself a ring, called the ring of invariants. Its algebraic structure has been a central object of study in commutative algebra and representation theory for many years. The cofixed space, on the other hand, is not a ring, but it is a module over the ring of invariants. In the nonmodular case, i.e. when \(|G|\) is a unit in \(\mathbf k\), the cofixed space is a free \(S^G\)-module of rank one. When \(|G|\) is not a unit, very little is known about \(S_G\) as an \(S^G\)-module. In this paper, the author studies the \(S^G\)-module structure of \(S_G\) when \(S = \mathbf k[x_1,\dots, x_n]\) and \(G = \mathfrak S_n\), the symmetric group on \(n\) letters, acting by permuting the variables. It is well-known that the ring of \(\mathfrak S_n\)-invariants is a polynomial ring \(\mathbf k[e_1,\dots, e_n]\), where \(e_i\) is the degree \(i\) elementary symmetric polynomial in \(x_1,\dots, x_n\). The main theorem in the present paper explicitly describes the structure of \(S_G\) as a module over this polynomial ring, when \(\mathbf k = \mathbb Z(p)\) is the localization of \(\mathbb Z\) at the prime ideal \((p)\), and \(p \leq n < 2p\). It is shown that the cofixed space is isomorphic to some ideal \(J_n\) of \(\mathbb Z(p)[e_1,\dots,e_n]\). This ideal turns out to be exactly the ideal \(I^G\) for \(G=\mathfrak S_n\), where \(I^G\) is the image of the transfer map \(\text{Tr}^G:S\rightarrow S^G\) defined by \(f\mapsto \sum_{g\in G}g(f)\).

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Cohomology of finite groups: interactions and applications. Abstracts from the workshop held February 22--27, 2026

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