The MeatAxe - Computing with Modular Representations.

This is the home page of the MeatAxe at Lehrstuhl D für Mathematik, RWTH Aachen, Germany.

Overview

The MeatAxe is a set of programs for working with matrix representations over finite fields. Permutation representations are supported to some extent, too.

Major Features

If you consider using the MeatAxe for your research projects, the following points may help to decide if the MeatAxe is suitable for your needs:

General
- The MeatAxe is free software and distributed in source code form.
- All programs are written in plain C.
- The MeatAxe is developed for the UNIX operating system. Supported platforms include Linux (x86), SunOS/Solaris (Sparc), HP/UX, DEC OSF/1 (Alpha), and Windows NT 4.0 (x86, Alpha, PPC).
- Compiling and installing the MeatAxe requires some familiarity with your operating system.
- There is no graphical user interface. All programs are run by entering command lines.
Technical features
- Finite Fields up to GF(256) are supported.
- Matrices are stored efficiently. E.g., when working over GF(2) each mark occupies only one bit.
- The programs have been optimized for speed. All algorithms are implemented in C.
- Basic matrix operations: arithmetic, order, tensor product, Gauss elimination.
- Condensation methods: Fixed point condensation of permutation representations, condensation of tensor products.
- Module structure: Finding submodules by spin-up, calculation of representations on submodules and factor modules, calculation of composition factors (chopping), peak word condensation, submodule lattices.
For the software developer
- Most algorithms are packed in a single library which you can use to build your own programs.
- Documentation of the MeatAxe library is included in LaTeX form.

For more information see the documentation. Older versions of the documentation are available in DVI and Postscript format. These documents are no longer up-to-date.

Download

From the MeatAxe download page you can download the current and older version of the MeatAxe. Note: All files are source code packages.

Links to other web sites

Matrix representations of finite simple groups in MeatAxe format and more interesting stuff can be found at the ATLAS of Finite Group Representations.

Michael Ringe (mringe@math.rwth-aachen.de), 24Oct-2014