Symmetric group modules with Specht and dual Specht filtrations

Abstract

The author and Nakano recently proved that multiplicities in a Specht filtration of a symmetric group module are well-defined precisely when the characteristic is at least five. This result suggested the possibility of a symmetric group theory analogous to that of good filtrations and tilting modules for $GL_n(k)$. This paper is an initial attempt at such a theory. We obtain two sufficient conditions that ensure a module has a Specht filtration, and a formula for the filtration multiplicities. We then study the categories of modules that satisfy the conditions, in the process obtaining a new result on Specht module cohomology. Next we consider symmetric group modules that have both Specht and dual Specht filtrations. Unlike tilting modules for $GL_n(k)$, these modules need not be self-dual, and there is no nice tensor product theorem. We prove a correspondence between indecomposable self-dual modules with Specht filtrations and a collection of $GL_n(k)$-modules which behave like tilting modules under the tilting functor. We give some evidence that indecomposable self-dual symmetric group modules with Specht filtrations may be self-dual trivial source modules.