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Lucia Morotti

Publications and source records attributed to Lucia Morotti.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Groups with a conjugacy class that is the difference of two normal subgroups

We consider finite groups having a conjugacy class that is the difference of two normal subgroups. That is, suppose $G$ is a group and $M$ and $N$ are normal subgroups so that $N < M$, and suppose that there is an element $g \in G$ so that the conjugacy class of $g$ is $M \setminus N$. We find a character-theoretic characterization of this condition, and we determine some structural properties of groups with such a conjugacy class. If we add the condition that $M/N$ is the unique minimal normal subgroup of $G/N$, then we obtain a generalization of a result by S.M. Gagola.

math.GR↗
arXiv2025

Irreducible restrictions of spin representations of symmetric and alternating groups

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be an algebraically closed field and $G$ be an almost quasi-simple group. An important problem in representation theory is to classify the subgroups $H<G$ and $\mathbb{F} G$-modules $L$ such that the restriction $L\downarrow_H$ is irreducible. This problem is a natural part of the program of describing maximal subgroups in finite classical groups. In this paper we investigate the case of the problem where $G$ is the Schur's double cover of alternating or symmetric group.

math.RT↗
arXiv2024

On common zeros of characters of finite groups

Let $G$ be a finite group, and let $\text{Irr}(G)$ denote the set of the irreducible complex characters of $G$. An element $g\in G$ is called a vanishing element of $G$ if there exists $\chi\in\text{Irr}(G)$ such that $\chi(g)=0$ (i.e., $g$ is a zero of $\chi$) and, in this case, the conjugacy class $g^G$ of $g$ in $G$ is called a vanishing conjugacy class. In this paper we consider several problems concerning vanishing elements and vanishing conjugacy classes; in particular, we consider the problem of determining the least number of conjugacy classes of a finite group $G$ such that every non-linear $\chi\in\text{Irr}(G)$ vanishes on one of them. We also consider the related problem of determining the minimum number of non-linear irreducible characters of a group such that two of them have a common zero.

math.GR↗
arXiv2023

Representations of symmetric and alternating groups and their double covers that remain irreducible modulo every prime

We classify globally irreducible representations of alternating groups and double covers of symmetric and alternating groups. In order to achieve this classification we also completely characterise irreducible representations of such groups which reduce almost homogeneously in every characteristic. This also allows us to classify irreducible representations that remain irreducible in every characteristic as well as irreducible representations of these groups that can appear as composition factors of globally irreducible representations of groups containing $\mathfrak{A}_n$ or $\hat{\mathfrak{A}}_n$ as normal subgroups. In particular we show that, apart from finitely many exceptions, for any of these questions such representations are either $1$-dimensional or basic spin representations.

math.RT↗
arXiv2023

Irreducible spin representations of symmetric and alternating groups which remain irreducible in characteristic 3

For any finite group $G$ and any prime $p$ one can ask which ordinary irreducible representations remain irreducible in characteristic $p$, or more generally, which representations remain homogeneous in characteristic $p$. In this paper we address this question for $p=3$ when $G$ is a proper double cover of the symmetric or alternating group. We obtain a classification except in the case of a certain family of partitions relating to spin RoCK blocks. Our techniques involve induction and restriction, degree calculations, decomposing projective characters and recent results of Kleshchev and Livesey on spin RoCK blocks.

math.RT↗
arXiv2023

Common zeros of irreducible characters

We study the zero-sharing behavior among irreducible characters of a finite group. For symmetric groups $S_n$, it is proved that, with one exception, any two irreducible characters have at least one common zero. To further explore this phenomenon, we introduce the common-zero graph of a finite group $G$, with non-linear irreducible characters of $G$ as vertices, and edges connecting characters that vanish on some common group element. We show that for solvable and simple groups, the number of connected components of this graph is bounded above by 3. Lastly, the result for $S_n$ is applied to prove the non-equivalence of the metrics on permutations induced from faithful irreducible characters of the group.

math.GR↗
arXiv2023

Decomposition numbers for abelian defect RoCK blocks of double covers of symmetric groups

We calculate the (super)decomposition matrix for a RoCK block of a double cover of the symmetric group with abelian defect, verifying a conjecture of the first author. To do this, we exploit a theorem of the second author and Livesey that a RoCK block $\mathcal B^{\rho,d}$ is Morita superequivalent to a wreath superproduct of a certain quiver (super)algebra with the symmetric group $\mathfrak S_d$. We develop the representation theory of this wreath superproduct to compute its Cartan invariants. We then directly construct projective characters for $\mathcal B^{\rho,d}$ to calculate its decomposition matrix up to a triangular adjustment, and show that this adjustment is trivial by comparing Cartan invariants.

math.RT↗
arXiv2023

Irreducible tensor products for alternating groups in characteristic 2

In this paper we completely characterise irreducible tensor products of representations of alternating groups in characteristic 2 of a basic spin module with an irreducible module. This completes the classification of irreducible tensor products of representations of alternating groups.

math.RT↗
arXiv2021

On self-extensions of irreducible modules over symmetric groups

A conjecture going back to the eighties claims that there are no non-trivial self-extensions of irreducible modules over symmetric groups if the characteristic of the ground field is not equal to $2$. We obtain some partial positive results on this conjecture.

math.RT↗
arXiv2021

Proportions of vanishing elements in finite groups

In this paper, we study the proportion of vanishing elements of finite groups. We show that the proportion of vanishing elements of every finite non-abelian group is bounded below by $1/2$ and classify all finite groups whose proportions of vanishing elements attain this bound. For symmetric groups of degree at least $5$, we show that this bound is at least $2327/2520$ which is best possible.

math.GR↗
arXiv2020

Irreducible tensor products for alternating groups in characteristics 2 and 3

In this paper we study irreducible tensor products of representations of alternating groups in characteristics 2 and 3. In characteristic 3 we completely classify irreducible tensor products, while in characteristic 2 we completely classify irreducible tensor products where none of the modules appearing in the product is a basic spin module. In characteristic 2 we also give some necessary conditions for the tensor product of an irreducible module with a basic spin module to be irreducible.

math.RT↗
arXiv2020

Irreducible restrictions of representations of symmetric and alternating groups in small characteristics

Building on reduction theorems and dimension bounds for symmetric groups obtained in our earlier work, we classify the irreducible restrictions of representations of the symmetric and alternating groups to proper subgroups. Such classification is known when the characteristic of the ground field is greater than $3$, but the small characteristics cases require a substantially more delicate analysis and new ideas. Our results fit into the Aschbacher-Scott program on maximal subgroups of finite classical groups.

math.RT↗