On Quasi Steinberg characters of Symmetric and Alternating groups and their Double Covers

Abstract

An irreducible character of a finite group $G$ is called quasi $p$-Steinberg character for a prime $p$ if it takes a nonzero value on every $p$-regular element of $G$. In this article, we classify the quasi $p$-Steinberg characters of Symmetric ($S_n$) and Alternating ($A_n$) groups and their double covers. In particular, an existence of a non-linear quasi $p$-Steinberg character of $S_n$ implies $n \leq 8$ and of $A_n$ implies $n \leq 9$.