Kálmán Cziszter

The computation of the Noether numbers of all groups of order less than thirty-two is completed. It turns out that for these groups in non-modular characteristic the Noether number is attained on a multiplicity free representation, it is strictly monotone on subgroups and factor groups, and it does not depend on the characteristic. Algorithms are developed and used to determine the small and large Davenport constants of these groups. For each of these groups the Noether number is greater than the small Davenport constant, whereas the first example of a group whose Noether number exceeds the large Davenport constant is found, answering partially a question posed by Geroldinger and Grynkiewicz.

The best known method to give a lower bound for the Noether number of a given finite group is to use the fact that it is greater than or equal to the Noether number of any of the subgroups or factor groups. The results of the present paper show in particular that these inequalities are strict for proper subgroups or factor groups. This is established by studying the algebra of coinvariants of a representation induced from a representation of a subgroup.

This paper surveys and develops links between polynomial invariants of finite groups, factorization theory of Krull domains, and product-one sequences over finite groups. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the multiplicative ideal theory of invariant rings, and connections between the Noether number and the Davenport constants of finite groups.