Heisenberg characters, unitriangular groups, and Fibonacci numbers

Let Un(Fq) denote the group of unipotent n×n upper triangular matrices over a finite field with q elements. We show that the Heisenberg characters of Un+1(Fq) are indexed by lattice paths from the origin to the line x+y=n using the steps (1,0), (1,1), (0,1), (0,2), which are labeled in a certain way by nonzero elements of Fq. In particular, we prove for n⩾1 that the number of Heisenberg characters of Un+1(Fq) is a polynomial in q−1 with nonnegative integer coefficients and degree n, whose leading coefficient is the nth Fibonacci number. Similarly, we find that the number of Heisenberg supercharacters of Un(Fq) is a polynomial in q−1 whose coefficients are Delannoy numbers and whose values give a q-analogue for the Pell numbers. By counting the fixed points of the action of a certain group of linear characters, we prove that the numbers of supercharacters, irreducible supercharacters, Heisenberg supercharacters, and Heisenberg characters of the subgroup of Un(Fq) consisting of matrices whose superdiagonal entries sum to zero are likewise all polynomials in q−1 with nonnegative integer coefficients.