Dichromatic state sum models for four-manifolds from pivotal functors (Q1650146)

The paper is devoted to the definition and study of a new dichromatic invariant (or rather a family of invariants) of four-dimensional manifolds. The starting point to build the family of invariants is the handle decomposition of the manifolds, and then coloring the handles with colors from certain categories. It is suggested that assigning different colors to 1-handles rather than to 2-handles is the way to get more general invariants. Since a priori very different categories might be used, a cornucopia of categories is presented, of which in the eventual definition are used two specific types, along with a pivotal functor between them. Namely, a spherical fusion category, and a ribbon fusion category (with the additional property of having a twist that is trivial on all ``transparent objects'', defined in the paper). The crucial role in the definition is played by a special framed link that results from a handlebody decomposition of the manifold (manifolds are assumed to be smooth, oriented and closed). The definition involves as the main factor the evaluation of the special framed link diagram, as an endomorphism of the unit object in the target ribbon fusion category of the pivotal functor, where 1-handles are labelled with the Kirby color of the target category, and the 2-handles are labelled with the functorial image of the Kirby color of the source category (Kirby colors are defined as combinations of simple objects in the respective categories with their dimensions as the weights, where simple objects are the ones with the only morphisms being scalar multiples of the unit morphism, like e.g. irreducible representations of some group, and their dimensions are traces of identity morphisms of the objects). The invariants are normalized by factors depending on the total dimensions of the involved Kirby colors, raised in powers depending on the numbers of the respective handles. The so defined invariants are proved to be indeed invariant under the choice of handle decompositions, as a result on so-called generalized sliding properties proved in the paper shows. The invariant is proved to have the multiplicative property under the disjoint union operation. It is also shown that the pivotal property of the functor from the definition is essential by the way of a counterexample. \par A relationship with other invariants is then discussed. In particular, the Broda invariants, normally defined using certain categories of representations of quantum groups, after generalizing to more general ribbon fusion categories correspond to the new invariant when the identity morphism is chosen. Similarly, Petit's invariant, which is also dichromatic, is recovered as a special case of the new invariant, up to a numerical factor. \par Afterwards, a discussion is given of some simplifications in the definition of the invariant in certain special cases. \par It seems that the motivation of the authors to define the new invariant was its relationship to the Crane-Yetter construction that leads to a state sum model of the invariant, and to its potential relationship with quantum gravity and thus with physics. The Crane-Yetter invariant has been defined using a state model related to a triangulation of the four-manifold. Thanks to Roberts' construction using the so-called chain mail process, this construction can be rewritten in the manner of the new invariant from the paper, though it was done only for modular target categories (where a modular category is one with only trivial transparent objects). In the paper, both the Crane-Yetter and the new invariant are written, using this construction, as the state sums in the case of non-modular target categories as well, with the former invariant as a special case of the latter. \par Then a number of examples are discussed, and certain known invariants are recreated for special choices of categories and functors, as well as some known invariants are generalized. \par Finally, relationships with models of quantum gravity are discussed, and possible generalizations of topological quantum field theories are suggested.