Representation Theory of Finite Groups An Introductory Approach

This book is intended to present group representation theory at a level accessible to mature undergraduate students and beginning graduate students. This is achieved by mainly keeping the required background to the level of undergraduate linear algebra, group theory and very basic ring theory. Module theory and Wedderburn theory, as well as tensor products, are deliberately avoided. Instead, we take an approach based on discrete Fourier Analysis. Applications to the spectral theory of graphs are given to help the student appreciate the usefulness of the subject. A number of exercises are included. This book is intended for a 3rd/4th undergraduate course or an introductory graduate course on group representation theory. However, it can also be used as a reference for workers in all areas of mathematics and statistics.

-Preface.-Introduction.-Review of Linear Algebra.-Group Representations.-Character Theory.-Fourier Analysis on Finite Groups.-Burnside's Theorem.-Permutation Representations.-Induced Representations.-Another Theorem of Burnside.-The Symmetric Group.-Bibliography.-Index.

Benjamin Steinberg is a professor at City College of New York and the CUNY graduate center. He received my Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. Steinberg is an algebraist interested in a broad range of areas including semigroups, geometric group theory and representation theory. Other research interests include automata theory, finite state Markov chains and algebras associated to etale groupoids. Steinberg is the co-author of a 2009 Springer publication in the SMM series entitled "The q-theory of Finite Semigroups". This book has had good pre- and post-publication reviews. Ben Steinberg is also an active editorial board member of the Semigroup Forum journal.