Primitive Idempotents of Schur Rings

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the nature of central idempotents of Schur rings over finite groups. We introduce the concept of a lattice Schur ring and explore properties of these kinds of Schur rings. In particular, the primitive, central idempotents of lattice Schur rings are completely determined. For a general Schur ring S, S contains a maximal lattice Schur ring, whose central, primitive idempotents form a system of pairwise orthogonal, central idempotents in S. We show that if S is a Schur ring with rational coefficients over a cyclic group, then these idempotents are always primitive and are spanned by the normal subgroups contained in S. Furthermore, a Wedderburn decomposition of Schur rings over cyclic groups is given. Some examples of Schur rings over non-cyclic groups will also be explored.