Schur $q$-functions and Spin Characters of Symmetric Groups I

Abstract

Inspired by the early work of D.E.Littlewood and A.R.Richardson, Schur functions have been used to give useful combinatorial formulae for determining explicit values for the irreducible characters of the symmetric groups.In this,the first of two papers,we consider how Schur Q-functions can be used to obtain combinatorial formulae for the irreducible spin (projective) characters of symmetric groups.