Large universal deformation rings

We provide a series of examples of finite groups G and mod p representations V of G whose stable endomorphisms are all given by scalars such that V has a universal deformation ring R(G,V) which is large in the sense that R(G,V)/pR(G,V) is isomorphic to a power series algebra in one variable.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; for Prop. 2, the description of the groups and the proof have slightly change

Dihedral blocks with two simple modules

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2, and let $G$ be a finite group. Suppose $B$ is a block of $kG$ with dihedral defect groups such that there are precisely two isomorphism classes of simple $B$-modules. The description by Erdmann of the quiver and relations of the basic algebra of $B$ is usually only given up to a certain parameter $c$ which is either 0 or 1. In this article, we show that $c=0$ if there exists a central extension $\hat{G}$ of $G$ by a group of order 2 together with a block $\hat{B}$ of $k\hat{G}$ with generalized quaternion defect groups such that $B$ is contained in the image of $\hat{B}$ under the natural surjection from $k\hat{G}$ onto $kG$. As a special case, we obtain that $c=0$ if $G=\mathrm{PGL}_2(\mathbb{F}_q)$ for some odd prime power $q$ and $B$ is the principal block of $k \mathrm{PGL}_2(\mathbb{F}_q)$.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. The arguments work also for non-principal blocks. The paper has been changed accordingly; in particular, the word "principal" was removed from the titl

Universal deformation rings and dihedral defect groups

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2, and let W be the ring of infinite Witt vectors over k. Suppose G is a finite group, and B is a block of kG with dihedral defect group D which is Morita equivalent to the principal 2-modular block of a finite simple group. We determine the universal deformation ring R(G,V) for every kG-module V which belongs to B and has stable endomorphism ring k. It follows that R(G,V) is always isomorphic to a subquotient ring of WD. Moreover, we obtain an infinite series of examples of universal deformation rings which are not complete intersections.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures. Changed introduction, updated reference

Finiteness Theorems for Deformations of Complexes

We consider deformations of bounded complexes of modules for a profinite group G over a field of positive characteristic. We prove a finiteness theorem which provides some sufficient conditions for the versal deformation of such a complex to be represented by a complex of G-modules that is strictly perfect over the associated versal deformation ring.Comment: 25 pages. This paper is connected to the paper arXiv:0901.010

Universal deformation rings and tame blocks

Let k be an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic, and let W be the ring of infinite Witt vectors over k. Suppose G is a finite group and B is a block of kG of infinite tame representation type. We find all finitely generated kG-modules V that belong to B and whose endomorphism ring is isomorphic to k and determine the universal deformation ring R(G,V) for each of these modules.Comment: 14 page

Deformation rings which are not local complete intersections

We study the inverse problem for the versal deformation rings $R(\Gamma,V)$ of finite dimensional representations $V$ of a finite group $\Gamma$ over a field $k$ of positive characteristic $p$. This problem is to determine which complete local commutative Noetherian rings with residue field $k$ can arise up to isomorphism as such $R(\Gamma,V)$. We show that for all integers $n \ge 1$ and all complete local commutative Noetherian rings $\mathcal{W}$ with residue field $k$, the ring $\mathcal{W}[[t]]/(p^n t,t^2)$ arises in this way. This ring is not a local complete intersection if $p^n\mathcal{W}\neq\{0\}$, so we obtain an answer to a question of M. Flach in all characteristics.Comment: 16 page