Refining invariants of finite groups with class functions

Abstract: Many numerical invariants of a finite group arise as the multiplicity of the trivial character in a naturally associated class function, and the remaining multiplicities carry finer structural information. For the number of conjugacy classes of elements whose order involves only a chosen set of primes, the natural such class function is a generalized character interpolating between the classical conjugating character and the regular character. We prove that it is a character in two important general cases, obtained independently by Robinson, and we rule out a family of groups and characters in which, we argue, a counterexample would be most likely to arise. Furthermore, we characterize when these class functions are compatible with passing to a subgroup and thereby sharpen a theorem of Sangroniz. The analogous class function for real elements is shown to always give a character. Finally, we give a dual construction that, together with the recently proved McKay Conjecture, yields a best-possible criterion for a finite group to have an abelian Sylow $p$-subgroup.