Computing fusion rules for spherical \(G\)-extensions of fusion categories (Q2065450)

This article establishes a method to compute the fusion rules of spherical \(G\)-extensions of a fusion category \(\mathcal C\), that is, of spherical fusion categories graded by a finite group \(G\) with \(\mathcal C\) as their identity component. Explicit formulas for special cases are derived, including the case where \(\mathcal C\) is Morita equivalent to the category of \(A\)-graded vector spaces, for an abelian group \(A\), and the case of so-called cyclic permutation extensions constructed from a modular fusion category. As a general idea, it is explained how to compute fusion rules of a spherical fusion category \(\mathcal D\) using the canonical Langrangian algebra in the Drinfeld (or monoidal) center \(\mathcal Z(\mathcal D)\). This Lagrangian algebra is the image of the tensor unit under the (left and right) adjoint of the forgetful functor \(\mathcal Z(\mathcal D)\to \mathcal D\). Its endomorphism ring is the complexified Grothendieck ring of \(\mathcal D\) as an algebra but has an addition convolution operation \(*\), and there is a set of orthogonal \(*\)-idempotents, labeled by the isomorphism classes of simple objects in \(\mathcal D\), whose multiplication determines the fusion rules. \(G\)-extensions of a fusion category \(\mathcal C\) can be obtained from categorical actions of \(G\) on \(\mathcal Z(\mathcal C)\) if a certain obstruction in the group cohomology vanishes. Using the general idea described above in this setup, an algorithm for computing the fusion rules of a \(G\)-extension in terms of the canonical Lagrangian algebra in \(\mathcal Z(\mathcal C)\) and the action of \(G\) on \(\mathcal Z(\mathcal C)\) is presented. The outlined method requires the existence of a spherical structure on the \(G\)-extension, which is guaranteed under a mild assumption, pseudo-unitarity of \(\mathcal C\). An explicit parametrization of all fusion categories \(\mathcal C\) Morita equivalent to the category of \(A\)-graded vector spaces, for an abelian group \(A\), in terms of certain Lagrangian subgroups is employed to derive an explicit formula for the fusion rules of \(G\)-extensions of such \(\mathcal C\). As another application, the situation is analyzed where \(\mathcal C\) is the \(n\)-th Deligne tensor power of a modular fusion category and \(G\) is the cyclic group of order \(n\) acting by a certain permutation of tensor factors. A formula for the fusion rules of the corresponding permutation extension in terms of the higher fusion rules of \(\mathcal C\) is derived.