Action of automorphisms on irreducible characters of groups of type \textsf{A}

Abstract

Let $G$ be a finite group isomorphic to $SL_n(q)$ or $SU_n(q)$ for some prime power $q$. In this paper, we give an explicit description of the action of automorphisms of $G$ on the set of its irreducible complex characters. This is done by showing that irreducible constituents of restrictions of irreducible characters of $GL_n(q)$ (resp. $GU_n(q)$) to $SL_n(q)$ (resp. $SU_n(q)$) can be distinguished by the rational classes of their unipotent support which are equivariant under the action of automorphisms. Meanwhile, we give a criterion to explicitly determine whether an irreducible character is a constituent of a given generalized Gelfand-Graev character of $G$. As as application, we give a short proof of the global side of Sp{\" a}th's criterion for the inductive McKay condition for the irreducible characters of $G$.