Stable Centres II: Finite Classical Groups

Abstract

Farahat and Higman constructed an algebra $\mathrm{FH}$ interpolating the centres of symmetric group algebras $Z(\mathbb{Z}S_n)$ by proving that the structure constants in these rings are "polynomial in $n$". Inspired by a construction of $\mathrm{FH}$ due to Ivanov and Kerov, we prove for $G_n = GL_n, U_n, Sp_{2n}, O_n$, that the structure constants of $Z(\mathbb{Z}G_n(\mathbb{F}_q))$ are "polynomial in $q^n$", allowing us to construct an equivalent of the Farahat-Higman algebra in each case.