On Vafa's theorem for tensor categories. (Q1812510)

The author generalizes \textit{C. Vafa}'s theorem on modular categories, which states that in a modular category twists are roots of unity, and the square of the braiding has finite order. The following main results are proved: 1) If \({\mathcal C}\) is a rigid braided finite tensor category over the field of complex numbers (i.e., an abelian category isomorphic to the category of finite-dimensional representations of a finite-dimensional algebra; it is not necessarily a semisimple category), then some even power of the braiding is unipotent and some power of the Casimir element is also unipotent. 2) In a (semisimple) modular category, if \(D\) is the global dimension of the category (i.e., the sum of squares of dimensions of simple objects), the twists are roots of unity dividing the algebraic integer \(D^{5/2}\). The proofs of the results resemble the ones in the case of the category of representations of a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra. Two new ingredients are used: categorical determinants [that had also been used before in the proof of 1) for the semisimple case] and Frobenius-Perron dimensions. In the end the authors discuss the notion of the quasi-exponent of a finite rigid tensor category \(\text{qexp}({\mathcal C})\), that is, the smallest power \(N\) such that \((\beta^2)^N\) is unipotent in the Drinfeld center \(Z({\mathcal C})\), where \(\beta\) is the braiding of \({\mathcal C}\).