Orbifold completion of 3-categories

arXiv2307.06485MaRDI QIDQ6511054FDOQ6511054

Abstract: We develop a general theory of 3-dimensional ``orbifold completion, to describe (generalised) orbifolds of topological quantum field theories as well as all their defects. Given a semistrict 3-category $m a t h c a l T$ with adjoints for all 1- and 2-morphisms (more precisely, a Gray category with duals), we construct the 3-category $m a t h c a l T_{e x t r m o r b}$ as a Morita category of certain $E_{1}$ -algebras in $m a t h c a l T$ which encode triangulation invariance. We prove that in $m a t h c a l T_{e x t r m o r b}$ again all 1- and 2-morphisms have adjoints, that it contains $m a t h c a l T$ as a full subcategory, and we argue that it satisfies a universal property which implies $(m a t h c a l T_{e x t r m o r b})_{e x t r m o r b} c o n g m a t h c a l T_{e x t r m o r b}$ . This is a categorification of the work in [CR]. Orbifold completion by design allows us to lift the orbifold construction from closed TQFT to the much richer world of defect TQFTs. We illustrate this by constructing a universal 3-dimensional state sum model with all defects from first principles, and we explain how recent work on defects between Witt equivalent Reshetikhin--Turaev theories naturally appears as a special case of orbifold completion.

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