Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Suppose that
$\widetilde{G}$ is a connected reductive group defined over a field
$k$, and
$\Gamma$ is a finite group acting via
$k$-automorphisms of
$\widetilde{G}$ satisfying a certain quasi-semisimplicity condition. Then the identity component of the group of
$\Gamma$-fixed points in
$\widetilde{G}$ is reductive. We axiomatize the main features of the relationship between this fixed-point group and the pair
$\left( \tilde{G},\Gamma \right)$, and consider any group
$G$ satisfying the axioms. If both
$\widetilde{G}$ and
$G$ are
$k$-quasisplit, then we can consider their duals
$\widetilde{{{G}^{*}}}$ and
${{G}^{*}}$. We show the existence of and give an explicit formula for a natural map from the set of semisimple stable conjugacy classes in
${{G}^{*}}\,(k)$ to the analogous set for
$\widetilde{{{G}^{*}}}\,(k)$. If
$k$ is finite, then our groups are automatically quasisplit, and our result specializes to give a map of semisimple conjugacy classes. Since such classes parametrize packets of irreducible representations of
$G(k)$ and
$\widetilde{G}\,(k)$, one obtains a mapping of such packets.