Extended homotopy quantum field theories and their orbifoldization

DOI10.1016/J.JPAA.2019.106213MaRDI QIDQ2332155zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Christoph Schweigert, Lukas Woike

Publication date 1 November 2019

Published in Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.08512

Braided monoidal categories and ribbon categories (18M15) 2-categories, bicategories, double categories (18N10) Topological quantum field theories (aspects of differential topology) (57R56)

Abstract: We present a precise definition of extended homotopy quantum field theories and develop an orbifold construction for these theories when the target space is the classifying space of a finite group

G

, i.e. for

G

-equivariant topological field theories. More precisely, we use a bicategorical version of the parallel section functor to associate to an extended equivariant topological field theory an ordinary extended topological field theory. Thereby, we give a unification, geometric underpinning and vast generalization of algebraic concepts of orbifoldization. In the special case of 3-2-1-dimensional equivariant topological field theories, we investigate the equivariant modular structure on the categories that such theories yield upon evaluation on the circle. By means of our orbifold construction this equivariant modular structure will be related to the modular structure on the orbifold category. We also generalize our orbifold construction to a pushforward operation along an arbitrary morphism of finite groups and hence provide a valuable tool for the construction of extended homotopy quantum field theories.

Review text

Homotopy quantum field theories were defined by Vladimir Turaev as topological field theories defined on bordisms equipped with maps to a fixed target space. The most investigated case is the one where the target is the classifying space of a finite group \(G\). Such theories are called equivariant topological field theories. The present paper develops a field-theoretic orbifold construction for extended homotopy field theories when the target is the classifying space of a finite group \(G\). The motivation is the 3-2-1-dimensional case, where the orbifold construction introduced by the authors allows a description of the orbifoldization of equivariant modular categories in terms of geometric constructions. The paper also includes a proof for the fact that a 3-2-1-dimensional \(G\)-equivariant topological field theory yields a \(G\)-multimodular category by evaluation on the circle. In the field of topological field theories, an interesting question is whether equivariant topological field theories allow an orbifoldization, a way to assign to a given equivariant topological field theory a non-equivariant topological field theory. The construction presented in the paper is not only interesting for the insight provided into the relation between equivariant and non-equivariant theories, but also on a purely algebraic level, as it provides a valuable access to concepts such as crossed Frobenius algebras and equivariant categories. Among the results provided by the paper one finds a formula for the number of simple objects of the orbifold theory, which as a byproduct yields restrictions for manifolds invariants coming from homotopy quantum field theory. The structure of the paper is as follows: In Section 2 the authors develop a higher categorical version of the notion of a homotopy quantum field theory given by Turaev. By specializing to aspherical targets they obtain extended equivariant topological field theories. It is important to note that, in the 3-2-1-dimensional case, equivariant topological field theories have also been defined using the language of principal fiber bundles. The present generalization to arbitrary dimension and target space seems to be new. In Section 3 the authors set up the orbifold construction for extended equivariant topological field theories, focusing only in equivariant topological field theories with coefficients \textbf{2Vect}, the symmetric monoidal bicategory of 2-vector spaces: its objects are additive \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear finitely semisimple categories; its 1-morphisms are linear functors and its 2-morphisms are natural transformations. Finally, the main focus of Section 4 lies on equivariant topological field theories and their orbifoldization in the 3-2-1-dimensional case as the situation allows for an interesting algebraic description in terms of equivariant modular categories and their orbifoldization via taking homotopy fixed points. The section includes a few facts on 3-2-1-dimensional equivariant topological field theories which are interesting in their own right.

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