The principal $p$-blocks with small numbers of characters

Abstract

For a prime $p$, we determine a Sylow $p$-subgroup $D$ of a finite group $G$ such that the principal $p$-block $B$ of $G$ has four irreducible ordinary characters. It has been determined already for the cases where the number is up to three by work by R. Brauer, J. Brandt, and V.A. Belonogov thirty years ago. Our proof relies on the classification of finite simple groups.