GENERALIZED MATRIX FUNCTIONS, IRREDUCIBILITY AND EQUALITY

Let $G{\leq}S_n$ and ${\chi}$ be any nonzero complex valued function on G. We first study the irreducibility of the generalized matrix polynomial $d^G_{\chi}(X)$, where $X=(x_{ij})$ is an n-by-n matrix whose entries are $n^2$ commuting independent indeterminates over $\mathbb{C}$. In particular, we show that if $\mathcal{X}$ is an irreducible character of G, then $d^G_{\chi}(X)$ is an irreducible polynomial, where either $G=S_n$ or $G=A_n$ and $n{\neq}2$. We then give a necessary and sufficient condition for the equality of two generalized matrix functions on the set of the so-called ${\chi}$-singular (${\chi}$-nonsingular) matrices.