On the trace of the antipode and higher indicators. (Q1760324)

The authors discuss invariants, called gauge invariants, for the monoidal category of representations of a finite dimensional Hopf algebra \(H\). One such gauge invariant is proved to be the \(n\)-th Frobenius-Schur indicator \(\nu_n(H)=\mathrm{Tr}(S\circ P_{n-1})\) of \(H\) for any natural number \(n\), where \(S\) is the antipode of \(H\), and \(P_n\) denotes the \(n\)-th Sweedler power map. Moreover, the sequence \((\nu_n(H))_n\) is linearly recursive and its minimal polynomial is a gauge invariant of \(H\). As examples, \(\nu_2(H)\) is computed if \(H\) is a Taft Hopf algebra, and \(\nu_n(H)\) is computed for all \(n\) if \(H\) is a Taft Hopf algebra of dimension 4 or 9. If \(V\) is a self-dual absolutely simple \(H\)-module, then the antipode of \(H\) induces an automorphism \(S_V\) of \(H/\mathrm{ann\,}V\). It is proved that \(\mathrm{Tr}(S_V)\) is a gauge invariant of \(H\), and if \(H\) is pivotal, then \(\mathrm{Tr}(S_V)\) is the product of the quantum dimension of \(V\) and the second Frobenius-Schur indicator of \(V\). The values of \(\nu_n(H)\) are studied for a complex semisimple quasi-Hopf algebra \(H\). If \(H\) is modular, it is proved that \(\nu_n(H)\) is real and non-negative. If \(H\) is semisimple, it is shown that a prime number \(p\) divides \(\dim H\) if and only if \(\nu_p(H)\neq 1\). As an application of \(\nu_2(H)\), it is shown that for a semisimple complex Hopf algebra \(H\), there is a non-trivial self-dual simple \(H\)-module with dimension bounded by a value depending on \(\nu_2(H)\).