The 2-characters of a group and the group determinant

A new look at Frobeniusʹ original papers on character theory has produced the following: (a) the group determinant determines the group (Formanek-Sibley); (b) the group is determined by the 1-, 2- and 3-characters of the irreducible representations (Hoehnke-Johnson); and (c) pairs of non-isomorphic groups exist with the same irreducible 1- and 2-characters (Johnson-Sehgal). The examples produced in Johnson and Sehgal have large orders but, recently, McKay and Sibley have proved that the ten Brauer pairs of order 256 have the same irreducible 2-characters. It is shown here that the pairs of non-isomorphic groups of order p3, p and odd prime, have the same irreducible 2-characters. Further results are given on the k-characters of the regular representation/rod a shorter proof of the result mentioned in (c) is indicated. A criterion is given which is sufficient for the 3-character of an arbitrary representation to determine the group.