The Weil representation of a unitary group associated to a ramified quadratic extension of a finite local ring.

Abstract: We find all irreducible constituents of the Weil representation of a unitary group of rank m associated to a ramified quadratic extension A of a finite, commutative, local and principal ring R of odd characteristic. We show that this Weil representation is multiplicity free with monomial irreducible constituents. We also find the number of these constituents and describe them in terms of Clifford theory with respect to a congruence subgroup. We find all character degrees in the special case when R is a field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]