Tetrahedral symmetry of \(6j\)-symbols in fusion categories (Q2161107)

The paper under review introduces the notion of a veined near-fusion category, in order to develop an abstract setting for the study of tetrahedral symmetry of \(6j\)-symbols in fusion categories. This is in contrast to previous results of this kind, which only address tetrahedral symmetry in particular families of cases. A veined near-fusion category \(\mathcal{C}\) is by definition semisimple, and its defining properties are expressed in terms of its simple objects. In particular, any object of \(\mathcal{C}\) is equal to a direct sum of tensor products of objects in a finite set \(S\) of simple objects of \(\mathcal{C}\). In other words, viewing \(\mathcal{C}\) as a bimonoidal category \((C,\oplus,\otimes,0,1)\), the set \(S\) generates \(\operatorname{Ob} \mathcal{C}\) under the ``direct sum of tensor products'' normal form. Interestingly, rigidity is not a part of the definition of a veined near-fusion category, but a non-degeneracy condition on the data defining the veined structure. In the non-degenerate case, this data allows one to define a rigidity functor on \(\mathcal{C}\). A rigid veined near-fusion category is a (veined) fusion category, and any fusion category is monoidally equivalent to a veined fusion category. In this setting, the paper defines an \(S_{4}\)-action on the space used to define the \(6j\)-symbols of a given veined fusion category \(\mathcal{C}\). The main result of the paper shows that a tetrahedral symmetry on the \(6j\)-symbols in a veined fusion category \(\mathcal{C}\) is equivalent to a certain condition on the action of the double dual functor of \(\mathcal{C}\) on certain morphisms in \(\mathcal{C}\). In fact, this condition is expressed entirely in terms of signs, which, if \(\Bbbk = \mathbb{C}\), are the eigenvalues of a certain involutive matrix. Since \(6j\)-symbols are preserved under monoidal equivalence, a similar statement follows for general fusion categories. A diagrammatic calculus representing (spaces of) morphisms by \(2\)-simplexes is used throughout the paper. Using it, \(6j\)-symbols are represented in terms of labeled tetrahedra, and a simplicial realization of the \(S_{4}\)-action defining the tetrahedral symmetry is given. The paper contains two appendices: the first states additional facts about \(6j\)-symbols in veined fusion categories, this time in terms of string diagrams. The second contains a brief introduction to simplicial sets and quasi-categories, and an explanation of the quasi-categorical origin of the simplicial diagrammatic calculus used throughout the paper.