The fundamental group of a Hopf linear category (Q2629889)

The main purpose of this paper is to initiate the theory of the fundamental group of a Hopf algebra over a field, relative to a finite group. The situation differs from the algebraic topology setting. For this purpose, the authors first consider gradings of Hopf algebras and Galois coverings. More precisely, the authors provide a Galois covering using a smash product category with Galois group \(\Gamma\), which is an abelian group, and define a Hopf \(k\)-category over a finite group \(G\) to be a small \(k\)-category whose objects are the elements of \(G\), equipped with a comultiplication, a counit and an antipode. In particular, a Hopf \(k\)-category over the trivial group is a Hopf \(k\)-algebra. The smash product of a Hopf \(k\)-category over a finite group \(G\) with respect to a finite abelian group \(\Gamma\) is a Hopf \(k\)-category over \(G\times \Gamma\). The fundamental group of a Hopf \(k\)-category is obtained by considering all Hopf connected gradings by finite abelian groups -- which provide Galois coverings -- and morphisms between them. An element of the fundamental group is a family of elements belonging to the groups which are grading Hopf \(k\)-categories in a connected way. The authors observe that the fundamental group of the trivial Hopf \(k\)-category over any finite group is trivial, and that it is an invariant of the isomorphism class of a Hopf \(k\)-category. If a universal grading of a Hopf \(k\)-category exists, its grading group is isomorphic to the fundamental group. In addition, there exists a group homomorphism \(\tau\) from the fundamental group of the underlying \(k\)-category to the fundamental group of the Hopf \(k\)-category. It is shown that this morphism is surjective if the Hopf \(k\)-category admits both a universal and a Hopf universal grading. The fundamental groups are computed for families of examples.