McKay conjecture

In mathematics, specifically in the field of group theory, the McKay conjecture is a conjecture of equality between the number of irreducible complex characters of degree not divisible by a prime number p {\displaystyle p} to that of the normalizer of a Sylow p {\displaystyle p} -subgroup. It is named after Canadian mathematician John McKay.

Statement

Suppose p {\displaystyle p} is a prime number, G {\displaystyle G} is a finite group, and P G {\displaystyle P\leq G} is a Sylow p {\displaystyle p} -subgroup. Define

Irr p ( G ) := { χ Irr ( G ) : p χ ( 1 ) } {\displaystyle {\textrm {Irr}}_{p'}(G):=\{\chi \in {\textrm {Irr}}(G):p\nmid \chi (1)\}}

where Irr ( G ) {\displaystyle {\textrm {Irr}}(G)} denotes the set of complex irreducible characters of the group G {\displaystyle G} . The McKay conjecture claims the equality

| Irr p ( G ) | = | Irr p ( N G ( P ) ) | {\displaystyle |{\textrm {Irr}}_{p'}(G)|=|{\textrm {Irr}}_{p'}(N_{G}(P))|}

where N G ( P ) {\displaystyle N_{G}(P)} is the normalizer of P {\displaystyle P} in G {\displaystyle G} .

References

  • Isaacs, I.M. (1994). Character Theory of Finite Groups. Dover. ISBN 0-486-68014-2. (Corrected reprint of the 1976 original, published by Academic Press.)
  • Evseev, Anton (2013). "The McKay Conjecture and Brauer's Induction Theorem". Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. 106: 1248–1290. arXiv:1009.1413. doi:10.1112/plms/pds058.