We define a cohomology for an arbitrary $K$-linear semistrict semigroupal 2-category $(\mathfrak{C},\otimes)$ (called in the paper a Gray semigroup) and show that its first order (unitary) deformations, up to the suitable notion of equivalence, are in one-one correspondence with the elements of the second cohomology group. Fundamental to the construction is a double complex, similar to Gerstenhaber-Schack's double complex for bialgebras. We also identify the cohomologies describing separately the deformations of the tensor product, the associator and the pentagonator. To obtain these results, a cohomology theory for an arbitrary $K$-linear unitary pseudofunctor is introduced describing its purely pseudofunctorial deformations, and generalizing Yetter's cohomology for semigroupal functors.
The corresponding higher order obstructions will be considered in a future paper.
We prove a coherence theorem for actions of groups on monoidal categories. As an application we prove coherence for arbitrary braided $G$-crossed categories.
G-equivariant modular categories provide the input for a standard method to construct 3d homotopy field theories. Virelizier constructed a G-equivariant category from the action of a group G on a Hopf algebra H by Hopf algebra automorphisms. The neutral component of his category is the Drinfeld center of the category of H-modules. We generalize this construction to weak actions of a group G on an arbitrary monoidal category C by (possibly non-strict) monoidal auto-equivalences and obtain a G-equivariant category with neutral component the Drinfeld center of C.
We study monoidal structures on the category of (co)modules over a weak bialgebra. Results due to Nill and Szlachányi are unified and extended to infinite algebras. We discuss the coalgebra structure on the source and target space of a weak bialgebra.
In this paper, we define and study weak monoidal Hom-Hopf algebras, which generalize both weak Hopf algebras and monoidal Hom-Hopf algebras. If $H$ is a weak monoidal Hom-Hopf algebra with bijective antipode and let $Aut_{wmHH}(H)$ be the set of all automorphisms of $H$. Then we introduce a category ${_{H}\mathcal{WMHYD}^{H}}(α,β)$ with $α,β\in Aut_{wmHH}(H)$ and construct a braided $T$-category $\mathcal{WMHYD}(H)$ that having all the categories ${_{H}\mathcal{WMHYD}^{H}}(α,β)$ as components.
We prove Eilenberg-Watts Theorem for 2-categories of the representation categories $\C\x\Mod$ of finite tensor categories $\C$. For a consequence we obtain that any autoequivalence of $\C\x\Mod$ is given by tensoring with a representative of some class in the Brauer-Picard group $\BrPic(\C)$. We introduce bialgebroid categories over $\C$ and a cohomology over a symmetric bialgebroid category. This cohomology turns out to be a generalization of the one we developed in a previous paper and moreover, an analogous Villamayor-Zelinsky sequence exists in this setting. In this context, for a symmetri…
A linear Gr-category is a category of finite-dimensional vector spaces graded by a finite group together with natural tensor product. We classify the braided monoidal structures of a class of linear Gr-categories via explicit computations of the 3-cocycles and quasi-bicharacters of finite abelian groups which are direct product of two cyclic groups.
We introduce the notions of a half-balanced braided monoidal category and of its contraction. These notions give rise to an explicit description of the action of the Galois group of QQ on Teichmueller groupoids in genus 0, equivalent to that of L. Schneps. We also show that a prounipotent version of this action is equivalent to a graded action.
By a theorem of Majid, every monoidal category with a neutral quasi-monoidal functor to finitely-generated and projective $\Bbbk$-modules gives rise to a coquasi-bialgebra. We prove that if the category is also rigid, then the associated coquasi-bialgebra admits a preantipode, providing in this way an analogue for coquasi-bialgebras of Ulbrich's reconstruction theorem for Hopf algebras. When $\Bbbk$ is field, this allows us to characterize coquasi-Hopf algebras as well in terms of rigidity of finite-dimensional corepresentations.
We characterize in terms of bicategories actions of monoidal categories to representation categories of algebras. For that purpose we introduce cocycles in any 2-category $\K$ and the category of Tambara modules over a monad $B$ in $\K$. We show that in an appropriate setting the above action of categories is given by a 2-cocycle in the Eilenberg-Moore category for the monad $B$. Furthermore, we introduce (co)quasi-bimonads in $\K$ and their respective 2-categories. We show that the categories of Tambara (co)modules over a (co)quasi-bimonad in $\K$ are monoidal, and how the 2-cocycles in the E…
Monoidal categories enriched in a braided monoidal category $\mathcal{V}$ are classified by braided oplax monoidal functors from $\mathcal{V}$ to the Drinfeld centers of ordinary monoidal categories. In this article, we prove that this classifying functor is strongly monoidal if and only if the original $\mathcal{V}$-monoidal category is tensored over $\mathcal{V}$. We then define a completion operation which produces a tensored $\mathcal{V}$-monoidal category $\overline{\mathcal{C}}$ from an arbitrary $\mathcal{V}$-monoidal category $\mathcal{C}$, and we determine many equivalent conditions w…
We construct an equivalence between the 2-categories VMonCat of rigid V-monoidal categories for a braided monoidal category V and VModTens of oplax braided functors from V into the Drinfeld centers of ordinary rigid monoidal categories. The 1-cells in each are the respective lax monoidal functors, and the 2-cells are the respective monoidal natural transformations. Our proof also gives an equivalence in the case that we consider only strong monoidal 1-cells on both sides. The 2-categories VMonCat and VModTens have G-graded analogues. We also get an equivalence of 2-categories between G-extensi…
We extend the formalism of Hopf cyclic cohomology to the context of braided categories. For a Hopf algebra in a braided monoidal abelian category we introduce the notion of stable anti-Yetter-Drinfeld module. We associate a para-cocyclic and a cocyclic object to a braided Hopf algebra endowed with a braided modular pair in involution in the sense of Connes and Moscovici. When the braiding is symmetric the full formalism of Hopf cyclic cohomology with coefficients can be extended to our categorical setting.
This article represents a preliminary attempt to link Kan extensions, and some of their further developments, to Fourier theory and quantum algebra through *-autonomous monoidal categories and related structures.
Multiplier bimonoids (or bialgebras) in arbitrary braided monoidal categories are defined. They are shown to possess monoidal categories of comodules and modules. These facts are explained by the structures carried by their induced functors.
We begin with a brief sketch of what is known and conjectured concerning braided monoidal 2-categories and their applications to 4d topological quantum field theories and 2-tangles (surfaces embedded in 4-dimensional space). Then we give concise definitions of semistrict monoidal 2-categories and braided monoidal 2-categories, and show how these may be unpacked to give long explicit definitions similar to, but not quite the same as, those given by Kapranov and Voevodsky. Finally, we describe how to construct a semistrict braided monoidal 2-category Z(C) as the `center' of a semistrict monoidal…
We introduce the notion of a monoidal category enriched in a braided monoidal category $\mathcal V$. We set up the basic theory, and prove a classification result in terms of braided oplax monoidal functors to the Drinfeld center of some monoidal category $\mathcal T$. Even the basic theory is interesting; it shares many characteristics with the theory of monoidal categories enriched in a symmetric monoidal category, but lacks some features. Of particular note, there is no cartesian product of braided-enriched categories, and the natural transformations do not form a 2-category, but rather sat…
Skew-monoidal categories arise when the associator and the left and right units of a monoidal category are, in a specific way, not invertible. We prove that the closed skew-monoidal structures on the category of right R-modules are precisely the right bialgebroids over the ring R. These skew-monoidal structures induce quotient skew-monoidal structures on the category of R-R-bimodules and this leads to the following generalization: Opmonoidal monads on a monoidal category correspond to skew-monoidal structures with the same unit object which are compatible with the ordinary monoidal structure b…
We give an explicit construction of the free monoid in monoidal abelian categories when the monoidal product does not necessarily preserve coproducts. We apply it to several new monoidal categories that appeared recently in the theory of Koszul duality for operads and props. This gives a conceptual explanation of the form of the free operad, free dioperad, free properad and free prop.
In our previous work, Hopf cyclic cohomology in braided monoidal categories, we extended the formalism of Hopf cyclic cohomology due to Connes and Moscovici and the more general case of Hopf cyclic cohomology with coefficients to the context of abelian braided monoidal categories. In this paper we go one step further in reducing the restriction of the ambient category being symmetric. We let the ambient category to be non-symmetric but assume only the restriction on the braid map for the Hopf algebra object (in that category) which is the main player in the theory. In the case of Hopf cyclic c…
We develop the theory of weak bimonoids in braided monoidal categories and show them to be quantum categories in a certain sense. Weak Hopf monoids are shown to be quantum groupoids. Each separable Frobenius monoid R leads to a weak Hopf monoid R \otimes R.
Braided-enriched monoidal categories were introduced in work of Morrison-Penneys, where they were characterized using braided central functors. Recent work of Kong-Yuan-Zhang-Zheng and Dell extended this characterization to an equivalence of 2-categories. Since their introduction, braided-enriched fusion categories have been used to describe certain phenomena in topologically ordered systems in theoretical condensed matter physics. While these systems are unitary, there was previously no general notion of unitarity for enriched categories in the literature. We supply the notion of unitarity fo…
Braided deformations of (symmetric) monoidal categories are related to Vassiliev theory by a direct generalization of well-known results relating "quantum" knot invariants to Vassiliev invariants. The deformation theory of braidings is subsumed by the deformation theory of monoidal functors, which proves surprisingly rich: the deformation complex of a monoidal functor has the same structure as the deformation complex of an algebra, including a pre-Lie structure, from which it is see that the problem of deforming monoidal functors (including braidings) is purely cohomological in nature.
Kornel Szlachányi recently used the term skew-monoidal category for a particular laxified version of monoidal category. He showed that bialgebroids $H$ with base ring $R$ could be characterized in terms of skew-monoidal structures on the category of one-sided $R$-modules for which the lax unit was $R$ itself. We define skew monoidales (or skew pseudo-monoids) in any monoidal bicategory $\mathscr M$. These are skew-monoidal categories when $\mathscr M$ is $\mathrm{Cat}$. Our main results are presented at the level of monoidal bicategories. However, a consequence is that quantum categories in th…
Here we describe three straightforward examples of what was called a graphic Fourier transformation in [4]. At least two of these examples may be viewed simply as monoidal comonads on suitable monoidal closed functor categories, but the third example, which involves "centres" of monoidal closed functor categories, is generally not comonadic. For the first two examples (i.e., association schemes and RCFT's), a more elaborate "probicategory" set-up was envisaged in an earlier version of this note, but many readers missed the main point so it is simplified (hopefully) below.
We define a notion of tensor product of bimodule categories and prove that with this product the 2-category of C-bimodule categories for fixed tensor C is a monoidal 2-category in the sense of Kapranov and Voevodsky. We then provide a monoidal-structure preserving 2-equivalence between the 2-category of C-bimodule categories and Z(C)-module categories (module categories over the center). For finite group G we show that de-equivariantization is equivalent to tensor product over category Rep(G) of finite dimensional representations. We derive Rep(G)-module fusion rules and determine the group of…
The analogy between Yetter's deformation theory form (lax) monoidal functors and Gerstenahaber's deformation theory for associative algebras is solidified by shown that under reasonable conditions the category of functors with an action of a lax monoidal functor is abelian, that an analogue of the Hochschild cohomology of an algebra with coefficients in a bimodule exists for monoidal functors, and is given by right derived functors. The deformation cohmology of a monoidal natural transformation is shown to be a special case.
Incidence coalgebras of categories in the sense of Joni and Rota are studied, specifically cases where a monoidal product on the category turns these into (weak) bialgebras. The overlap with the theory of combinatorial Hopf algebras and that of Hopf quivers is discussed, and examples including trees, skew shapes, Milner's bigraphs and crossed modules are considered.
We show that the equivalence between several possible characterizations of Frobenius algebras, and of symmetric Frobenius algebras, carries over from the category of vector spaces to more general monoidal categories. For Frobenius algebras, the appropriate setting is the one of rigid monoidal categories, and for symmetric Frobenius algebras it is the one of sovereign monoidal categories. We also discuss some properties of Nakayama automorphisms.
We study the basic monoidal properties of the category of Hopf modules for a coquasi Hopf algebra. In particular we discuss the so called fundamental theorem that establishes a monoidal equivalence between the category of comodules and the category of Hopf modules. We present a categorical proof of Radford's $S^4$ formula for the case of a finite dimensional coquasi Hopf algebra, by establishing a monoidal isomorphism between certain double dual functors.
We define a notion of category enriched over an oplax monoidal category $V$, extending the usual definition of category enriched over a monoidal category. Even though oplax monoidal structures involve infinitely many functors $V^n\to V$, defining categories enriched over $V$ only requires the lower arity maps $(n \leq 3)$, similarly to the monoidal case. The focal point of the enrichment theory shifts, in the oplax case, from the notion of $V$-category (given by collections of objects and hom-objects together with composition and unit maps) to the one of categories enriched over $V$ (genuine c…
In this expository paper, we discuss and compare the notions of braided and coboundary monoidal categories. Coboundary monoidal categories are analogues of braided monoidal categories in which the role of the braid group is replaced by the cactus group. We focus on the categories of representations of quantum groups and crystals and explain how while the former is a braided monoidal category, this structure does not pass to the crystal limit. However, the categories of representations of quantum groups of finite type also possess the structure of a coboundary category which does behave well in…
We show that, with some technical conditions, an abelian category can be embedded into the category of bimodules over a ring. The case of semisimple rigid monoidal categories is studied in more detail.
Given a monoidal category C, an ordinary category M, and a monad T in M, the lifts in a strict sense of a fixed action of C on M to an action of C on the Eilenberg-Moore category of T-modules in M are in a bijective correspondence with certain families of natural transformations, indexed by the objects in the monoidal category C. These families are analogues of distributive laws between monads.
We study the bialgebra structures on quiver coalgebras and the monoidal structures on the categories of locally nilpotent and locally finite quiver representations. It is shown that the path coalgebra of an arbitrary quiver admits natural bialgebra structures. This endows the category of locally nilpotent and locally finite representations of an arbitrary quiver with natural monoidal structures from bialgebras. We also obtain theorems of Gabriel type for pointed bialgebras and hereditary finite pointed monoidal categories.
Hopf (bi-)modules and crossed modules over a bialgebra B in a braided monoidal category C are considered. The (braided) monoidal equivalence of both categories is proved provided B is a Hopf algebra (with invertible antipode). Bialgebra projections and Hopf bimodule bialgebras over a Hopf algebra in C are found to be isomorphic categories. As a consequence a generalization of the Radford-Majid criterion for a braided Hopf algebra to be a cross product is obtained. The results of this paper turn out to be fundamental for the construction of (bicovariant) differential calculi on braided Hopf alg…
This article is devoted to the investigation of the deformation (twisting) of monoidal structures, such as the associativity constraint of the monoidal category and the monoidal structure of monoidal functor. The sets of twistings have a (non-abelian) c ohomological nature. Using this fact the maps from the sets of twistings to some cohomology groups (Hochschild cohomology of K-theory) are constructed. The examples of monoidal categories of bimodules over some algebra, modules and comodules over bialgeb ra are examined. We specially concentrate on the case of free tensor category.
In this paper we give an expository account of quasistrict symmetric monoidal 2-categories, as introduced by Schommer-Pries. We reformulate the definition using a graphical calculus called wire diagrams, which facilitates computations and emphasizes the central role played by the interchangor coherence isomorphisms.
Skew monoidal categories are monoidal categories with non-invertible `coherence' morphisms. As shown in a previous paper bialgebroids over a ring R can be characterized as the closed skew monoidal structures on the category Mod R in which the unit object is R. This offers a new approach to bialgebroids and Hopf algebroids. Little is known about skew monoidal structures on general categories. In the present paper we study the one-object case: skew monoidal monoids (SMM). We show that they possess a dual pair of bialgebroids describing the symmetries of the (co)module categories of the SMM. Thes…
An object $P$ in a monoidal category $\mathcal{C}$ is called pivotal if its left dual and right dual objects are isomorphic. Given such an object and a choice of dual $Q$, we construct the category $\mathcal{C}(P,Q)$, of objects which intertwine with $P$ and $Q$ in a compatible manner. We show that this category lifts the monoidal structure of $\mathcal{C}$ and the closed structure of $\mathcal{C}$, when $\mathcal{C}$ is closed. If $\mathcal{C}$ has suitable colimits we show that $\mathcal{C}(P,Q)$ is monadic and thereby construct a family of Hopf monads on arbitrary closed monoidal categories…
We apply the notion of relative adjoint functor to generalise closed monoidal categories. We define representations in such categories and give their relation with left actions of monoids. The translation of these representations under lax monoidal functors is investigated. We introduce tensor product of representations of bimonoids as a functorial binary operation and show how symmetric lax monoidal functors act on this product. Finally we apply the general theory to classical and quantum representations.
We introduce a variant on the graphical calculus of Cockett and Seely for monoidal functors and illustrate it with a discussion of Tannaka reconstruction, some of which is known and some of which is new. The new portion is: given a separable Frobenius functor F: A --> B from a monoidal category A to a suitably complete or cocomplete braided autonomous category B, the usual formula for Tannaka reconstruction gives a weak bialgebra in B; if, moreover, A is autonomous, this weak bialgebra is in fact a weak Hopf algebra.
We introduce monoidal categories whose monoidal products of any positive number of factors are lax coherent and whose nullary products are oplax coherent. We call them $\mathsf{Lax}^+\mathsf{Oplax}^0$-monoidal. Dually, we consider $\mathsf{Lax}_0\mathsf{Oplax}_+$-monoidal categories which are oplax coherent for positive numbers of factors and lax coherent for nullary monoidal products. We define $\mathsf{Lax}^+_0\mathsf{Oplax}^0_+$-duoidal categories with compatible $\mathsf{Lax}^+\mathsf{Oplax}^0$- and $\mathsf{Lax}_0\mathsf{Oplax}_+$-monoidal structures. We introduce comonoids in $\mathsf{La…
We describe a class of examples of braided monoidal categories which are built from Hopf algebras in symmetric categories. The construction is motivated by a calculation in two-dimensional conformal field theory and is tailored to contain the braided monoidal categories occurring in the study of the Ising model, their generalisation to Tamabara-Yamagami categories, and categories occurring for symplectic fermions.
We introduce the concept of cotensor coalgebra for a given bicomodule over a coalgebra in an abelian monoidal category. Under some further conditions we show that such a cotensor coalgebra exists and satisfies a meaningful universal property. We prove that this coalgebra is formally smooth whenever the comodule is relative injective and the coalgebra itself is formally smooth.
The 2-category V-Cat of categories enriched over a braided monoidal category V is not itself braided in any way that is based upon the braiding of V. The exception is the case in which V is symmetric, which leads to V-Cat being symmetric as well. This paper describes how these facts are related to a categorical analogue of topological delooping. It seems that the analogy of loop spaces is a good guide for how to define the concept of enrichment over various types of monoidal objects, including k-fold monoidal categories and their higher dimensional counterparts. The main result is that for V a…
We give an alternative presentation of braided monoidal categories. Instead of the usual associativity and braiding we have just one constraint (the b-structure). In the unital case, the coherence conditions for a b-structure are shown to be equivalent to the usual associativity, unit and braiding axioms. We also discuss the next dimensional version, that is, b-structures on bicategories. As an application, we show how special b-categories result in the Yang-Baxter equation, and how special b-bicategories produce Zamolodchikov's tetrahedron equation. Finally, we define a cohomology theory (the…
Joyal and Street note in their paper on braided monoidal categories [Braided tensor categories, Advances in Math. 102(1993) 20-78] that the 2-category V-Cat of categories enriched over a braided monoidal category V is not itself braided in any way that is based upon the braiding of V. The exception that they mention is the case in which V is symmetric, which leads to V-Cat being symmetric as well. The symmetry in V-Cat is based upon the symmetry of V. The motivation behind this paper is in part to describe how these facts relating V and V-Cat are in turn related to a categorical analogue of to…
We show that a left-rigid monoidal C^*-category with irreducible monoidal unit is also a sovereign and spherical category. Defining a Frobenius-Schur type indicator we obtain selection rules for the fusion coefficients of irreducible objects. As a main result we prove S_4-invariance of 6j-symbols in such a category.
In this paper we show that to a unital associative algebra object (resp. co-unital co-associative co-algebra object) of any abelian monoidal category $\mathcal{C}$ endowed with a symmetric $2$-trace, one can attach a cyclic (resp. cocyclic) module, and therefore speak of the cyclic (co)homology of the (co)algebra "with coefficients in $F$". We observe that if $\mathcal{M}$ is a $\mathcal{C}$-bimodule category equipped with a stable central pair then $\mathcal{C}$ acquires a symmetric 2-trace. The dual notions of symmetric $2$-contratraces and stable central contrapairs are derived as well. As …
In this work, for a finite group $G$ and a 4-cocycle $ω\in Z^4(G, \mathbf{k}^\times)$, we compute explicitly the center of the monoidal 2-category $\operatorname{2Vec}_G^ω$ of $ω$-twisted $G$-graded 1-categories of finite dimensional $\mathbf{k}$-vector spaces. This center gives a precise mathematical description of the topological defects in the associated 3+1D Dijkgraaf-Witten TQFT. We prove that this center is a braided monoidal 2-category with a trivial sylleptic center.
