Diagonal $p$-permutation functors, semisimplicity, and functorial equivalence of blocks

TL;DR

This paper studies diagonal p-permutation functors over fields of characteristic zero, proving their semisimplicity, classifying simple objects, and introducing a new notion of functorial equivalence of blocks with finiteness results.

Contribution

It establishes the semisimplicity of the category of diagonal p-permutation functors and introduces functorial equivalence of blocks, providing a new framework for block classification.

Findings

The category of diagonal p-permutation functors over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero is semisimple.

Simple objects of this category are parametrized and their evaluations described.

Finiteness of block classes up to functorial equivalence for a fixed defect group.

Abstract

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$, let $R$ be a commutative ring, and let $\mathbb{F}$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. We consider the $R$-linear category $\mathcal{F}^\Delta_{Rpp_k}$ of diagonal $p$-permutation functors over $R$. We first show that the category $\mathcal{F}^\Delta_{\mathbb{F}pp_k}$ is semisimple, and we give a parametrization of its simple objects, together with a description of their evaluations. Next, to any pair $(G,b)$ of a finite group $G$ and a block idempotent $b$ of $kG$, we associate a diagonal $p$-permutation functor $RT^{\Delta}_{G,b}$ in $\mathcal{F}^\Delta_{Rpp_k}$. We find the decomposition of the functor $\mathbb{F}T^{\Delta}_{G,b}$ as a direct sum of simple functors in $\mathcal{F}^\Delta_{\mathbb{F}pp_k}$. This leads to a characterization of nilpotent blocks in terms of their associated functors in $\mathcal{F}^\Delta_{\mathbb{F}pp_k}$. Finally, for such pairs $(G,b)$ of a finite group and a block idempotent, we introduce the notion of functorial equivalence over $R$, which (in the case $R=\mathbb{Z}$) is slightly weaker than $p$-permutation equivalence, and we prove a corresponding finiteness theorem: for a given finite $p$-group $D$, there is only a finite number of pairs $(G,b)$, where $G$ is a finite group and $b$ a block idempotent of $kG$ with defect isomorphic to $D$, up to functorial equivalence over $\mathbb{F}$.