We give a short proof of the fact that if all characteristic p simple modules of the finite group G have dimension less than p, then G has a normal Sylow p-subgroup.
In this paper we measure how efficiently a finite simple group $G$ is generated by its elements of order $p$, where $p$ is a fixed prime. This measure, known as the $p$-width of $G$, is the minimal $kin mathbb{N}$ such that any $gin G$ can be written
as a product of at most $k$ elements of order $p$. Using primarily character theoretic methods, we sharply bound the $p$-width of some low rank families of Lie type groups, as well as the simple alternating and sporadic groups.
We obtain lower bounds for the maximum dimension of a simple FG-module, where G is a finite group and F is an algebraically closed field of characteristic p. The bounds are described in terms of properties of p-subgroups of G. When p is 2 or p is a M
ersenne prime, the bounds take a different form, due to exceptions which arise for such primes.
In this paper we determine the torsion free rank of the group of endotrivial modules for any finite group of Lie type, in both defining and non-defining characteristic. On our way to proving this, we classify the maximal rank $2$ elementary abelian $
ell$-subgroups in any finite group of Lie type, for any prime $ell$, which may be of independent interest.
The description of nilpotent Chernikov $p$-groups with elementary tops is reduced to the study of tuples of skew-symmetric bilinear forms over the residue field $mathbb{F}_p$. If $p e2$ and the bottom of the group only consists of $2$ quasi-cyclic su
mmands, a complete classification is given. We use the technique of quivers with relations.
We define and study supercharacters of the classical finite unipotent groups of symplectic and orthogonal types (over any finite field of odd characteristic). We show how supercharacters for groups of those types can be obtained by restricting the su
percharacter theory of the finite unitriangular group, and prove that supercharacters are orthogonal and provide a partition of the set of all irreducible characters. We also describe all irreducible characters of maximum degree in terms of the root system, and show how they can be obtained as constituents of particular supercharacters.