Representations and traces of the Hecke algebras H n(q) of type A n−1

The notion of the connectivity class of minimal words in the algebra Hn(q) is introduced and a method of explicitly constructing irreducible representation matrices is described and implemented. Guided by these results, the connection between the Ocneanu trace on Hn(q) and Schur functions is exploited to derive a very simple prescription for calculating the irreducible characters of Hn(q). They appear as the elements of the transition matrix relating certain generalized power sum symmetric functions to Schur functions. Their evaluation involves the use of the Littlewood–Richardson rule, which is proved to apply to Hn(q) just as it does to Sn. Both representation matrices and characters are tabulated.