Examples and Mackey Theory
Concrete examples of induction and Mackey's formula reveal the structure of induced representations when restricted back to subgroups.
The regular representation of is obtained by inducing the trivial representation from the trivial subgroup:
This shows the regular representation decomposes as:
Let act transitively on a set , and let be the stabilizer of a point. Then the permutation representation is isomorphic to: where is the trivial representation of .
For acting on points: with the standard permutation action.
Let be subgroups, and let be a representation of . Choose double coset representatives for (so ). Then: where denotes the conjugated representation: has the same underlying space as but with action .
This formula describes what happens when we induce from to , then restrict to : the result decomposes according to double cosets and involves intersections of conjugate subgroups.
Let (a subgroup of order 2 in ). The double cosets are:
- (distinct double coset)
For (trivial representation of ):
The first term is just , and computing the second term involves the intersection .
Mackey's formula is fundamental in:
- Subgroup restriction: Understanding how representations behave under restriction
- Classification of representations: Determining when induced representations are irreducible
- Modular representation theory: Analyzing decomposition numbers
- Geometric representation theory: Computing stalks of perverse sheaves
The formula reveals that induction and restriction are not simply inverse operationsβtheir composition has rich structure governed by double coset decompositions.