We study the zero-sharing behavior among irreducible characters of a finite group. For symmetric groups $\mathsf {S}_n$, it is proved that, with one exception, any two irreducible characters have at least one common zero. To further explore this phenomenon, we introduce the common-zero graph of a finite group G, with nonlinear irreducible characters of G as vertices, and edges connecting characters that vanish on some common group element. We show that for solvable and simple groups, the number of connected components of this graph is bounded above by three. Lastly, the result for $\mathsf {S}_n$ is applied to prove the nonequivalence of the metrics on permutations induced from faithful irreducible characters of the group.

The complete classification of the finite simple groups that are $(2,3)$-generated is a problem which is still open only for orthogonal groups. Here, we construct $(2, 3)$-generators for the finite odd-dimensional orthogonal groups $\Omega _{2k+1}(q)$, $k\geq 4$. As a byproduct, we also obtain $(2,3)$-generators for $\Omega _{4k}^+(q)$ with $k\geq 3$ and q odd, and for $\Omega _{4k+2}^\pm (q)$ with $k\geq 4$ and $q\equiv \pm 1~ \mathrm {(mod~ 4)}$.

We classify the irreducible unitary representations of closed simple groups of automorphisms of trees acting $2$-transitively on the boundary and whose local action at every vertex contains the alternating group. As an application, we confirm Claudio Nebbia’s CCR conjecture on trees for $(d_0,d_1)$-semi-regular trees such that $d_0,d_1\in \Theta $, where $\Theta $ is an asymptotically dense set of positive integers.

For closed subgroups L and R of a compact Lie group G, a left L-space X, and an L-equivariant continuous map $A:X\to G/R$, we introduce the twisted action of the equivariant cohomology $H_R^{\bullet }(\mathrm {pt},\Bbbk )$ on the equivariant cohomology $H_L^{\bullet }(X,\Bbbk )$. Considering this action as a right action, $H_L^{\bullet }(X,\Bbbk )$ becomes a bimodule together with the canonical left action of $H_L^{\bullet }(\mathrm {pt},\Bbbk )$. Using this bimodule structure, we prove an equivariant version of the Künneth isomorphism. We apply this result to the computation of the equivariant cohomologies of Bott–Samelson varieties and to a geometric construction of the bimodule morphisms between them.

We apply Takesaki’s and Connes’s ideas on structure analysis for type III factors to the study of links (a short term of Markov kernels) appearing in asymptotic representation theory.