On the Steinberg Character of a Finite Simple Group of Lie Type

Abstract

Let K be an algebraically closed field of characteristic ρ >0. If G is a connected, simple connected, semisimple linear algebraic group defined over K and σ an endomorphism of G onto G such that the subgroup Gσ of fixed points of σ is finite, Steinberg ([6] [7]) has shown that there is a complex irreducible character χ of Gσ with the following properties. χ vanishes at all elements of Gσ which are not semi- simple, and, if x ∈ G is semisimple, χ(x) = ±n(x) where n(x)is the order of a Sylow p-subgroup of (ZG(x))σ (ZG(x) is the centraliser of x in G). If G is simple he has, in [6], identified the possible groups Gσ they are the Chevalley groups and their twisted analogues over finite fields, that is, the ‘simply connected’ versions of finite simple groups of Lie type. In this paper we show, under certain restrictions on the type of the simple algebraic group G an on the characteristic of K, that χ can be expressed as a linear combination with integral coefficients of characters induced from linear characters of certain naturally defined subgroups of Gσ. This expression for χ gives an explanation for the occurence of n(x) in the formula for χ (x), and also gives an interpretation for the ± 1 occuring in the formula in terms of invariants of the reductive algebraic group ZG(x).