A characterization of depth 2 subfactors of II\(_1\) factors (Q1975481)

The authors give a characterization of finite index depth 2 inclusions of type \(\text{II}_1\) factors in terms of weak Kac algebras and weak \(C^*\)-Hopf algebras. Let \(N \subset M\) be a finite index depth 2 inclusion of type \(\text{II}_1\) factors and \(N \subset M \subset M_1 \subset M_2 \ldots\) the corresponding Jones tower. It was known that if \(N \subset M\) is irreducible, i.e. \(N' \cap M = \mathbb{C}\), then \(B=M' \cap M_2\) has a natural structure of finite-dimensional Kac algebras and there is a canonical outer action of \(B\) on \(M_1\) such that \(M\) is the fixed point subalgebra of \(M_1\) with respect to this action, and \(M_2\) is isomorphic to the crossed product of \(M_1\) and \(B\). In the present paper, this result is extended to the general (reducible, i.e. such that \(\mathbb{C} \subset N' \cap M)\) case by replacing usual Kac algebras (Hopf \(C^*\)-algebras) by weak Kac algebras or weak \(C^*\)-Hopf algebras.