Representation
The cycle graphs of finite cyclic groups are all n-sided polygons with the elements at the vertices. The dark vertex in the cycle graphs below stand for the identity element, and the other vertices are the other elements of the group. A cycle consists of successive powers of either of the elements connected to the identity element.
| C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | C5 | C6 | C7 | C8 |
The representation theory of the cyclic group is a critical base case for the representation theory of more general finite groups. In the complex case, a representation of a cyclic group decomposes into a direct sum of linear characters, making the connection between character theory and representation theory transparent. In the positive characteristic case, the indecomposable representations of the cyclic group form a model and inductive basis for the representation theory of groups with cyclic Sylow subgroups and more generally the representation theory of blocks of cyclic defect.
Read more about this topic: Cyclic Group