Actions of tensor categories, cylinder braids and their Kauffman polynomial (Q5935980)

The amazing confluence of areas of mathematics and mathematical physics which arose after the discovery of the Jones polynomial and its extensions into quantum topology, owes much to the fact that a single algebraic object, a braided monoidal rigid tensor category, underlies several different fields, from the geometric structure of tangles and `segments' of manifolds to the representation theory of quantum groups. Braid groups (\(A_n\)-series) also play a central rôle, as any knot (or link) can be constructed by closing a suitable braid (and then 3-manifolds can be obtained by surgery), while representations of braid groups arise naturally from quasi-triangular Hopf algebras or from solutions of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation (appearing in the theory of exactly soluble models in statistical mechanics). Thus the simplest geometric example of a braided tensor category can be modeled on the braids themselves (ribbon tangles), while the simplest representation theory leading to knot invariants gives the Kauffman polynomial. The paper extends these analogies to deal with the \(B_n\)-series of braid groups, develops the corresponding categorical notion of a cylinder braided tensor category (CBTC) and an analogue of the Kauffman polynomial. The type \(B\) braid groups, \(ZB_n\), can be geometrically interpreted as symmetric braids on \(2n\) strands [\textit{T. tom Dieck}, Manuscr. Math. 93, No. 2, 163-176 (1997; Zbl 0953.57005)] or cylinder braids on \(n\) strands in a punctured plane [\textit{S. S. F. Lambropoulou}, Proceedings of the conference on quantum topology, Manhattan, KS, USA, March 24-28, 1993. Singapore: World Scientific, 225-245 (1994; Zbl 0884.57004)]. The archetypal example of a CBTC is that of (colored) cylinder ribbon tangles, and it is proved that there is a unique functor from this CBTC to an arbitrary one (with suitable conditions). The analogue of rigidity structures is also introduced as a point structure, the archetypal example being an extension of cylindrical ribbon tangles, where ribbons are allowed to end at the cylinder axis. Representations of this extended category \(\text{PCylRib}\) obtained by imposing appropriate skein relations are then shown to lead to a four parameter cylinder generalization of the Kauffman polynomial. Finally it is shown how this polynomial can be obtained as a writhe normalization of a Markov trace on a cylinder generalization of the Birman-Wenzl algebra, related to the type \(B\) Birman-Murakami-Wenzl algebra [\textit{R. Häring-Oldenburg}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 161, No. 1-2, 113-144 (2001; Zbl 1062.20004)].