Lefschetz properties for monomial complete intersections

We give a complete characterization of the weak Lefschetz property (WLP) for monomial complete intersections over a field of positive characteristic. Richard Stanley observed that in characteristic zero WLP, and in fact the strong Lefschetz property (SLP), holds for all degree sequences, as a consequence of the hard Lefschetz theorem, and the same result was explained by Junzo Watanabe using the representation theory of $\mathfrak{sl}_2$. In positive characteristic, many partial results are known, most notably the classification for constant degree sequences due to Brenner--Kaid and Kustin--Vraciu. Our approach is based on a cohomological and representation-theoretic interpretation of WLP. Combined with an analysis of cohomology characters, this leads to a complete numerical criterion for WLP, expressed by simple inequalities involving the $p$-adic digits of the exponents. We also give a new proof of the known classification of SLP using Renaud's algorithm for multiplication in the Green--Han--Monsky ring.