M3/4/5P12 Solutions #4

Rebecca Bellovin

1. (a) Z(G) = {±1}, so two conjugacy classes are {1} and {−1}. In addition, i−1 = −1, j −1 = −j,
and k −1 = −k. Thus, (−j)i(−j)−1 = jij −1 = −ijj −1 = −i and (−k)i(−k)−1 = kik −1 =
−ikk −1 = −i, so {±i} is another conjugacy class. Similar reasoning shows that the other
conjugacy classes are {±j} and {±k}.
(b) There are many ways to see this. For example, Q8 has only one element of order 2, namely
−1, while D8 has five, namely s2 , t, st, s2 t, s3 t.
(c) Let (V, ρV ) be a 1-dimensional representation of Q8 . A 1-dimensional representation must be
constant on conjugacy classes of Q8 , so ρV (i) = ρV (−i), and ρV (1) = ρV (i · (−i)) = ρV (i)2 ,
so ρV (i) = ±1. Similarly, ρV (j) = ±1 and since ij = k, ρV (k) = ρV (i)ρV (j). Thus, there are
four 1-dimensional representations of Q8 .
(d) Q8 has order 8 and we have found four 1-dimensional representations. Since 8 = i (dim Vi )2 ,
P
where the sum runs over the irreducible representations Vi of Q8 , and Q8 has five conjugacy
classes, there is one more representation and it is 2-dimensional. The character table so far is

{1} {−1} {±i} {±j} {±k}

conjugacy class size 1 1 2 2 2
χ++ 1 1 1 1 1
χ+− 1 1 1 −1 −1
χ−+ 1 1 −1 1 −1
χ−− 1 1 −1 −1 1
χ5 2 ? ? ? ?

Column orthogonality implies that χ++ (1)χ++ (−1) + χ+− (1)χ+− (−1) + χ−+ (1)χ−+ (−1) +
χ−− (1)χ−− (−1) + χ5 (1)χ5 (−1) = 0, so χ5 (−1) = −2. Column orthogonality further implies
that

4 = χ++ (i)2 + χ+− (i)2 + χ−+ (i)2 + χ−− (i)2 + χ5 (i)χ5 (−i)
4 = χ++ (j)2 + χ+− (j)2 + χ−+ (j)2 + χ−− (j)2 + χ5 (j)χ5 (−j)
4 = χ++ (k)2 + χ+− (k)2 + χ−+ (k)2 + χ−− (k)2 + χ5 (k)χ5 (−k)

But this implies that χ5 (i) = χ5 (j) = χ5 (k) = 0. Thus, our character table is

{1} {−1} {±i} {±j} {±k}

conjugacy class size 1 1 2 2 2
χ++ 1 1 1 1 1
χ+− 1 1 1 −1 −1
χ−+ 1 1 −1 1 −1
χ−− 1 1 −1 −1 1
χ5 2 −2 0 0 0

2. Since |G| = i (dim Vi )2 = i 1, there are |G| irreducible representations of G. Therefore, |G| =
P P
dim C(G) ≥ dim Ccl (G) ≥ |G| and so each element of G is its own conjugacy class. It follows that
G = Z(G) and G is abelian.

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3. (a) The conjugacy classes of S3 are {e}, {(1 2), (1 3), (2 3)}, and {(1 2 3), (1 3 2)}. There are two
1-dimensional representations, namely the trivial representation and the sign representation,
and one 2-dimensional representation. The character table is

{1} (1 2) (1 2 3)
conjugacy class size 1 3 2
χtriv 1 1 1
χsign 1 −1 1
χV 2 0 −1

(b) χV ∗ = χV so χV ∗ (e) = 2, χV ∗ (1 2) = 0, and χV ∗ (1 2 3) = −1. χV ⊗V = χV · χV , so

χV ⊗V (e) = 4, χV ⊗V (1 2) = 0, and χV ⊗V (1 2 3) = 1. χHom(V,V ) = χV · χV , so χHom(V,V ) (e) =
4, χHom(V,V ) (1 2) = 0, and χHom(V,V ) (1 2 3) = 1.
(c) V ⊗ V and Hom(V, V ) have the same character χ. Furthermore,
1
hχ, χtriv i = (4 + 3 · 0 + 2 · 1) = 1
6
1
hχ, χsign i = (4 + 3 · 0 + 2 · 1) = 1
6
1
hχ, χV i = (8 + 3 · 0 + 2 · (−1)) = 1
6

so χ = χtriv + χsign + χV .
(d) We compute
1
hφ, χtriv i = (4 + 3 · 0 + 2 · (−5)) = −1
6
1
hφ, χsign i = (4 + 3 · 0 + 2 · (−5)) = −1
6
1
hφ, χV i = (8 + 3 · 0 + 2 · (−5)(−1)) = 3
6
so φ = −χtriv − χsign + 3χV . But φ is not the character of a representation of S3 because the
trivial and sign representation can’t appear with negative multiplicity.
4. (a) This function is the character of the restriction of either 3-dimensional irreducible represen-
tation of S4 to A4 . It is irreducible because
1
9 + 4 · 02 + 4 · 02 + 3 · (−1)2 = 1


hχU , χU i =
12
Since χU (e) = 3, the corresponding representation is 3-dimensional.
(b) Since |A4 | = 12 = 12 + 32 + i (dim Vi )2 , the squares of the remaining representations of A4
P
add to 2. Therefore, there are two more 1-dimensional representations.
(c) We need hχ3 , χU i = hχ4 , χU i = 0. But
1 1
0 = hχ3 , χU i = (3 + 4 · 0 + 4 · 0 + 3 · χ3 ((1 2)(3 4))(−1)) = (3 − 3χ3 ((1 2)(3 4)))
12 12
1 1
0 = hχ4 , χU i = (3 + 4 · 0 + 4 · 0 + 3 · χ4 ((1 2)(3 4))(−1)) = (3 − 3χ4 ((1 2)(3 4)))
12 12
It follows that χ3 ((1 2)(3 4)) = χ4 ((1 2)(3 4)) = 1.
(d) We also need hχ3 , χtriv i = 0, so
1 1
0 = hχ3 , χtriv i = (1 + 4 · χ3 (1 2 3) + 4 · χ3 (1 3 2) + 3 · 1) = (4 + 4 · χ3 (1 2 3) + 4 · χ3 (1 3 2))
12 12

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 Since χ3 and χ4 correspond to 1-dimensional representations, their values are roots of unity.
If χ3 (1 2 3) = a + bi, then since 1 + χ3 (1 2 3) + χ3 (1 3 2) = 0, we have χ3 (1 3 2) = −1 − a − bi.
It follows that
1 = |χ3 (1 3 2)|2 = (1 + a)2 + b2 = 1 + 2a + a2 + b2 = 2 + 2a
√
so a = −1/2 and b = ± 3/2.
It follows that up to switching χ3 and χ4 , χ3 (1 2 3) = ω, χ3 (1 3 2) = ω 2 , χ4 (1 2 3) = ω 2 , and
χ4 (1 3 2) = ω.
(e) The kernel of χ3 and χ4 is the subgroup N := {e, (1 2)(3 4), (1 3)(2 4), (1 4)(2 3)}, so χ3 and
χ4 arise from homomorphisms ρ3 , ρ4 : A4 → A4 /N ∼= C3 → GL1 (C).
5. We draw a table of the restrictions, where the notation for the representations of S4 is as in the
notes:
{e} {s, s−1 } {s2 } {t, s2 t} {st, s3 t}
conjugacy class size 1 2 1 2 2
χtriv |D8 1 1 1 1 1
χsign |D8 1 −1 1 1 −1
χW |D8 3 −1 −1 −1 1
χW 0 |D8 3 1 −1 −1 −1
χU |D8 2 0 2 2 0
The character table for D8 is
{e} {s, s−1 } {s2 } {st, s−1 t} {t, s2 t}
size of conjugacy class 1 2 1 2 2
χtriv (g) 1 1 1 1 1
χ+− (g) 1 1 1 −1 −1
χ−+ (g) 1 −1 1 −1 1
χ−− (g) 1 −1 1 1 −1
χ2 (g) 2 0 −2 0 0

We compute the inner products of the restricted characters with the irreducible characters of D8 :
χtriv χ+− χ−+ χ−− χ2
χtriv |D8 1 0 0 0 0
χsign |D8 0 0 0 1 0
χW |D8 0 0 1 0 1
χW 0 |D8 0 1 0 0 1
χU |D8 1 0 0 1 0
Note that since all of the class functions here are real, we don’t have to keep track of order.
To summarize:
χtriv |D8 = χtriv
χsign |D8 = χ−−
χW |D8 = χ−+ + χ2
χW 0 |D8 = χ+− + χ2
χU |D8 = χtriv + χ−−

6. Write C3 := hg : g 3 = ei. Then C[C3 ] has basis [e], [g], [g 2 ], and by multiplicativity, it is enough to
decide where to send [g]. We define a map
C[C3 ] → C ⊕ C ⊕ C
[e] 7→ (1, 1, 1)
[g] 7→ (1, ω, ω 2 )
[g 2 ] 7→ (1, ω 2 , ω)

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 where ω = e2πi/3 .
Similarly, if we set ζ := e2πi/n , we may define

C[Cn ] → C⊕n
[g] 7→ (1, ζ, . . . , ζ n−1 )

7. We have π(a, b) := a, so

π((a, b)(a0 , b0 )) = π(aa0 , bb0 ) = aa0 = π(a, b)π(a0 , b0 )

On the other hand, σ(a) := (a, 0) so σ(1) = (1, 0) 6= 1A⊕B .