Finite linear groups, lattices, and products of elliptic curves

Abstract

Let $V$ be a finite dimensional complex linear space and let $G$ be an irreducible finite subgroup of $\GL(V)$. For a $G$-invariant lattice $Λ$ in $V$ of maximal rank, we give a description of structure of the complex torus $V/Λ$. In particular, we prove that for a wide class of groups, $V/Λ$ is isogenous to a self-product of an elliptic curve, and that in many cases $V/Λ$ is isomorphic to a product of mutually isogenous elliptic curves with complex multiplication. We show that there are $G$ and $Λ$ such that the complex torus $V/Λ$ is not an abelian variety but one can always replace $Λ$ by another $G$-invariant lattice $Δ$ such that $V/Δ$ is a product if elliptic curves with complex multiplication. We amplify these results with a criterion, in terms of the character and the Schur $\mathbf Q$-index of $G$-module $V$, of the existence of a nonzero $G$-invariant lattice in $V$.