Structure of blocks with normal defect and abelian $p'$ inertial quotient

David Benson, Radha Kessar, Markus Linckelmann

Published 2022-01-27Version 1

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of prime characteristic $p$. Let $kGe$ be a block of a group algebra of a finite group $G$, with normal defect group $P$ and abelian $p'$ inertial quotient $L$. Then we show that $kGe$ is a matrix algebra over a quantised version of the group algebra of a semidirect product of $P$ with a certain subgroup of $L$. To do this, we first examine the associated graded algebra, using a Jennings--Quillen style theorem. As an example, we calculate the associated graded of the basic algebra of the non-principal block in the case of a semidirect product of an extraspecial $p$-group $P$ of exponent $p$ and order $p^3$ with a quaternion group of order eight with the centre acting trivially. In the case $p=3$ we give explicit generators and relations for the basic algebra as a quantised version of $kP$. As a second example, we give explicit generators and relations in the case of a group of shape $2^{1+4}:3^{1+2}$ in characteristic two.