On braided fusion categories I

On G-crossed Frobenius ⋆-algebras and fusion rings associated with braided G-actions

Relative centers and tensor products of tensor and braided fusion categories

On Müger's centralizer in braided equivariantized fusion categories

We show that the core of a weakly group-theoretical braided fusion category [Formula: see text] is equivalent as a braided fusion category to a tensor product [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is a pointed weakly anisotropic braided fusion category, and [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] is an Ising braided category. In particular, if [Formula: see text] is integral, then its core is a pointed weakly anisotropic braided fusion category. As an application we give a characterization of the solvability of a weakly group-theoretical braided fusion category. We also prove that an integral modular category all of whose simple objects have Frobenius–Perron dimension at most 2 is necessarily group-theoretical.

Reconstructing braided subcategories of SU(N)k

Let \({\mathcal C}\) be an integral fusion category. We study some graphs, called the prime graph and the common divisor graph, related to the Frobenius-Perron dimensions of simple objects in the category \({\mathcal C}\), that extend the corresponding graphs associated to the irreducible character degrees and the conjugacy class sizes of a finite group. We describe these graphs in several cases, among others, when \({\mathcal C}\) is an equivariantization under the action of a finite group, a \(2\)-step nilpotent fusion category, and the representation category of a twisted quantum double. We prove generalizations of known results on the number of connected components of the corresponding graphs for finite groups in the context of braided fusion categories. In particular, we show that if \({\mathcal C}\) is any integral non-degenerate braided fusion category, then the prime graph of \({\mathcal C}\) has at most \(3\) connected components, and it has at most \(2\) connected components if \({\mathcal C}\) is in addition solvable. As an application we prove a classification result for weakly integral braided fusion categories all of whose simple objects have prime power Frobenius-Perron dimension.

We apply the yoga of classical homotopy theory to classification problems of G -extensions of fusion and braided fusion categories, where G is a finite group. Namely, we reduce such problems to classification (up to homotopy) of maps from BG to classifying spaces of certain higher groupoids. In particular, to every fusion category \mathcal C we attach the 3-groupoid \underline{\underline{\mathrm{BrPic}}}(\mathcal C) of invertible \mathcal C -bimodule categories, called the Brauer–Picard groupoid of \mathcal C , such that equivalence classes of G -extensions of \mathcal C are in bijection with homotopy classes of maps from BG to the classifying space of \underline{\underline{\mathrm{BrPic}}}(\mathcal C) . This gives rise to an explicit description of both the obstructions to existence of extensions and the data parametrizing them; we work these out both topologically and algebraically. One of the central results of the article is that the 2-truncation of \underline{\underline{\mathrm{BrPic}}}(\mathcal C) is canonically equivalent to the 2-groupoid of braided auto-equivalences of the Drinfeld center \mathcal Z(\mathcal C) of \mathcal C . In particular, this implies that the Brauer–Picard group \mathrm{BrPic}(\mathcal C) (i.e., the group of equivalence classes of invertible \mathcal C -bimodule categories) is naturally isomorphic to the group of braided auto-equivalences of \mathcal Z(\mathcal C) . Thus, if \mathcal C = \mathrm{Vec}_A , where A is a finite abelian group, then \mathrm{BrPic}(\mathcal C) is the orthogonal group \mathrm{O}(A \oplus A^*) . This allows one to obtain a rather explicit classification of extensions in this case; in particular, in the case G = \mathbb Z_2 , we re-derive (without computations) the classical result of Tambara and Yamagami. Moreover, we explicitly describe the category of all (\mathrm{Vec}_{A_1},\mathrm{Vec}_{A_2}) -bimodule categories (not necessarily invertible ones) by showing that it is equivalent to the hyperbolic part of the category of Lagrangian correspondences.

We show that the Witt class of a weakly group-theoretical non-degenerate braided fusion category belongs to the subgroup generated by classes of non-degenerate pointed braided fusion categories and Ising braided categories. This applies in particular to solvable non-degenerate braided fusion categories. We also give some sufficient conditions for a braided fusion category to be weakly group-theoretical or solvable in terms of the factorization of its Frobenius–Perron dimension and the Frobenius–Perron dimensions of its simple objects. As an application, we prove that every non-degenerate braided fusion category whose Frobenius–Perron dimension is a natural number less than 1800, or an odd natural number less than 33075, is weakly group-theoretical.

We establish rank-finiteness for the class of G-crossed braided fusion categories, generalizing the recent result for modular categories and including the important case of braided fusion categories. This necessitates a study of slightly degenerate braided fusion categories and their centers, which are interesting for their own sake.

For a finite group , a ‐crossed braided fusion category is a ‐graded fusion category with additional structures, namely, a ‐action and a ‐braiding. We develop the notion of ‐crossed braided zesting: an explicit method for constructing new ‐crossed braided fusion categories from a given one by means of cohomological data associated with the invertible objects in the category and grading group . This is achieved by adapting a similar construction for (braided) fusion categories recently described by the authors. All ‐crossed braided zestings of a given category are ‐extensions of their trivial component and can be interpreted in terms of the homotopy‐based description of Etingof, Nikshych, and Ostrik. In particular, we explicitly describe which ‐extensions correspond to ‐crossed braided zestings.

Nilpotent fusion categories

We introduce the notions of normal tensor functor and exact sequence of tensor categories. We show that exact sequences of tensor categories generalize strictly exact sequences of Hopf algebras as defined by Schneider, and in particular, exact sequences of (finite) groups. We classify exact sequences of tensor categories C' -> C -> C'' (such that C' is finite) in terms of normal faithful Hopf monads on C'' and also, in terms of self-trivializing commutative algebras in the center of C. More generally, we show that, given any dominant tensor functor C -> D admitting an exact (right or left) adjoint there exists a canonical commutative algebra A in the center of C such that F is tensor equivalent to the free module functor C -> mod_C A, where mod_C A denotes the category of A-modules in C endowed with a monoidal structure defined using the half-braiding of A. We re-interpret equivariantization under a finite group action on a tensor category and, in particular, the modularization construction, in terms of exact sequences, Hopf monads and commutative central algebras. As an application, we prove that a braided fusion category whose dimension is odd and square-free is equivalent, as a fusion category, to the representation category of a group.

Fusion surface models generalize the concept of anyon chains to 2+1 dimensions, utilizing fusion 2-categories as their input. We investigate bond-algebraic dualities in these systems and show that distinct module tensor categories \mathcal{M} ℳ over the same braided fusion category \mathcal{B} ℬ give rise to dual lattice models. This extends the 1+1d result that dualities in anyon chains are classified by module categories over fusion categories. We analyze two concrete examples: (i) a \text{Rep}(S_3) Rep ( S 3 ) model with a constrained Hilbert space, dual to the spin- \tfrac{1}{2} 1 2 XXZ model on the honeycomb lattice, and (ii) a bilayer Kitaev honeycomb model, dual to a spin- \tfrac{1}{2} 1 2 model with XXZ and Ising interactions. Unlike regular \mathcal{M}=\mathcal{B} ℳ = ℬ fusion surface models, which conserve only 1-form symmetries, models constructed from \mathcal{M} ≠ \mathcal{B} ℳ ≠ ℬ can exhibit both 1-form and 0-form symmetries, including non-invertible ones.

For a braided fusion category $\mathcal{V}$, a $\mathcal{V}$-fusion category is a fusion category $\mathcal{C}$ equipped with a braided monoidal functor $\mathcal{F}:\mathcal{V} \to Z(\mathcal{C})$. Given a fixed $\mathcal{V}$-fusion category $(\mathcal{C}, \mathcal{F})$ and a fixed $G$-graded extension $\mathcal{C}\subseteq \mathcal{D}$ as an ordinary fusion category, we characterize the enrichments $\widetilde{\mathcal{F}}:\mathcal{V} \to Z(\mathcal{D})$ of $\mathcal{D}$ that are compatible with the enrichment of $\mathcal{C}$. We show that G-crossed extensions of a braided fusion category $\mathcal{C}$ are G-extensions of the canonical enrichment of $\mathcal{C}$ over itself. As an application, we parameterize the set of $G$-crossed braidings on a fixed $G$-graded fusion category in terms of certain subcategories of its center, extending Nikshych’s classification of the braidings on a fusion category.

The tensor functor called \alpha -induction produces a new unitary fusion category from a Frobenius algebra object, or a Q -system, in a braided unitary fusion category. In the operator algebraic language, it gives extensions of endomorphism of N to M arising from a subfactor N\subset M of finite index and finite depth, which gives a braided fusion category of endomorphisms of N . It is also understood in terms of Ocneanu’s graphical calculus. We study this \alpha -induction for bi-unitary connections, which provides a characterization of finite-dimensional nondegenerate commuting squares, and present certain 4 -tensors appearing in recent studies of 2 -dimensional topological order. We show that the resulting \alpha -induced bi-unitary connections are flat if we start with a commutative Frobenius algebra, or a local Q -system. Examples related to chiral conformal field theory and the Dynkin diagrams are presented.