On higher indicators of regular association schemes

Abstract

In the present paper, we will define the higher Frobenius–Schur indicators and the higher indicators of association schemes as a generalization of those of finite groups. The higher indicators of any association scheme are always positive rational numbers. Especially, for any positive integer n, the nth indicator of any regular association scheme is the number of relations such that its strong girth divides n. Thus, all higher indicators of any regular association scheme are natural numbers, and the sequence of the indicators is periodic. We will show that the converses of these facts are also true for finite exponent association schemes. Finally, we introduce a family of infinite exponent association schemes all higher indicators of which are natural numbers and the sequence of the indicators of which is periodic.