Fiat categorification of the symmetric inverse semigroup \(IS_n\) and the semigroup \(F^*_n\) (Q1640008)

Let \(S_n\) be a symmetric group of all bijective transformations of the set \({\mathbf n}\) of \(n\) elements, \({\mathbf B}_n\) the set of all binary relations on \({\mathbf n}\), and \({\mathbf P}_n\) the set of all equivalence relations on the set \(\{1,2,\ldots, n, 1',2',\ldots, n'\}\). Let \({\mathbf PP}_n\) be the subset of \({\mathbf P}_n\) consisting of the elements for which each equivalence class intersects both sets \(\{1,2,\ldots, n\}\) and \( \{1',2',\ldots, n'\}\). The authors construct two 2-categories \(\mathcal A_n\) and \(\mathcal B_n\), both having one object and elements of \(S_n\) as 1-morphisms, which compositions are induced from \(S_n\). The set of 2-morphisms \(\text{Hom}(\sigma, \pi)\) is: 1) for \(\mathcal A_n\) the set of all \(\alpha \in {\mathbf B}_n\) such that \(\alpha\subseteq\pi\cap\sigma\) and 2) for \(\mathcal B_n\) the set of all \(\alpha \in {\mathbf PP}_n\) such that \(\pi\leq\alpha\) and \(\sigma\leq\alpha\). Let \(\mathbf k\) be a field and \(\mathcal C\) a finite 2-category (a category with a finite number of morphisms). The authors define \(\mathbf k\)-\textit{linearization} \(\mathcal C_{\mathbf k}\) of \(\mathcal C\) over \(\mathbf k\), having the same objects as \(\mathcal C\), with suitably defined morphisms and their compositions. The \textit{finitarization} \({\mathbf k}\mathcal C\) of \(\mathcal C_{\mathbf k}\) is defined as follows: 1) \({\mathbf k}\mathcal C\) and \(\mathcal C_{\mathbf k}\) have the same objects, 2) \({\mathbf k}\mathcal C(\text{i,j })\) is the idempotent completion of \(\mathcal C_{\mathbf k}(\text{i,j })\) and 3) composition in \({\mathbf k}\mathcal C\) is induced from composition in \(\mathcal C\). A construction is presented for turning a certain - prefinitary - 2-category \(\mathcal C\) into a finitary 2-category \(\overline{\mathcal C}\). A finitary 2-category \(\mathcal C\) is \textit{fiat} provided that there exists a weak anti-involution \(*: {\mathcal C}\to {\mathcal C}^{\text{co.op}}\), such that, for any objects i, j \(\in \mathcal C\) and any 1-morphism F\(\in \mathcal C\)(i,j), there are 2-morphisms \(\eta : {\mathbf 1}_i\to \text{F}^*\text F\) and \(\epsilon : \text{FF}^*\to {\mathbf 1}_j\) such that \((\epsilon\circ_0 \text{id}_{\text F})\circ_1 (\text{id}_{\text F}\circ_0 \eta)= \text{id}_{\text F}\) and \((\text{id}_{\text F}^*\circ_0 \epsilon )\circ_1 (\eta \circ_0 \text{id}_{\text F}^*)= \text{id}_{\text F}^*\). It is proved that \(\overline{{\mathbf k}\mathcal A}_n\) and \(\overline{{\mathbf k}\mathcal B}_n\) are both fiat 2-categories. Examples of finitary 2-categories are given that are not fiat. The \textit{decategorification} of finitary 2-categories is defined and showed that the decategorification of \(\overline{{\mathbf k}\mathcal A}_n\) is isomorphic to \({\mathbb Z}[ IS_n]\), with respect to the so-called Möbius basis in \({\mathbb Z}[ IS_n]\). Similarly, the decategorification of \(\overline{{\mathbf k}\mathcal B}_n\) is isomorphic to \({\mathbb Z}[ F_n^*]\) (\(F_n^*\) - the maximal factorizable submonoid of the dual symmetric inverse monoid \(I_n^*\)). Explicit examples of the constructions for \(n=2\) are provided.