Characters and transfer maps via categorified traces (Q6969074)

This article develops a theory of generalized characters for local systems valued in presentably symmetric monoidal \(\infty\)-categories, extending classical character theory from finite group representations to the setting of dualizable objects in such categories. The authors introduce the notion of characters via traces and their higher-categorical enhancements in \(\infty\)-categories, and derive an induced character formula compatible with left Kan extensions, generalizing the classical induction theorem.\N\NA central technical tool is the formalism of higher categorical traces, especially in the \((\infty,2)\)-category of presentable \(\mathcal{C}\)-linear \(\infty\)-categories. The functoriality of categorified traces is exploited to define and study Becker-Gottlieb transfer maps in this setting, and to compute the Hochschild homology of Thom spectra via a categorified induced character formula. Among the key results are the following: (1) a precise expression of characters as maps from free loop spaces to endomorphisms of the monoidal unit; (2) an induced character formula expressed via the free loop transfer of \(\infty\)-categories (Theorem B); (3) a categorified version of the Blumberg-Cohen-Schlichtkrull formula for the topological Hochschild homology of Thom spectra (Theorem C); (4) a reinterpretation of Becker-Gottlieb transfers through characters and their functoriality (Theorem E); (5) an additivity theorem for generalized traces in stable monoidal \(\infty\)-categories (Theorem F).\N\NThe exposition is rigorous and technically detailed. Foundational sections (2--4) prepare the ground for substantial applications developed in Sections 5--7.