# Splitting implies characters separate conjugacy classes

## Statement

For a finite group $G$, any Splitting field (?) $k$ has the following property: given any two distinct Conjugacy class (?)es of $G$, there is a finite-dimensional representation $\varphi$ of $G$ over $k$ such that the character of $\varphi$ takes different values on the two conjugacy classes.

## Related facts

### Corollaries

• Splitting implies class-separating: Given any two distinct conjugacy classes, we can find a finite-dimensional representation where the images are not conjugate as linear transformations.

### Converse

The converse is not true, in fact: characters span class functions not implies splitting (this is due to the Schur index phenomenon).

On the other hand, see characters span class functions iff they separate conjugacy classes iff field contains field generated by character values for alternative characterizations of a field where the characters separate the conjugacy classes.

## Proof

The proof follows directly from Fact (1). If it were true that there were two distinct conjugacy classes on which all characters were equal, then the span of the space of characters would not include any class function taking different values on the two conjugacy classes, and in particular would not include the indicator function for any one of the conjugacy classes. Hence, the span would not be all class functions.