Classifying fusion categories \(\otimes\)-generated by an object of small Frobenius-Perron dimension (Q2310814)

Fusion categories are one generalization of the category of representations of a finite group. The categories considered by the author are fusion categories over the complex numbers \(\mathbb{C}\) in the sense of [\textit{P. Etingof} et al., Ann. Math. (2) 162, No. 2, 581--642 (2005; Zbl 1125.16025)], and in particular these categories are \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear, semisimple, and equipped with a tensor (monoidal) product. An important numerical invariant of fusion categories \(\mathcal{C}\) are the Frobenius-Perron dimensions of simple objects \(X\) in \(\mathcal{C}\) which are computed as the maximal real eigenvalue of the matrix of tensoring with the object \(X\). These dimensions are positive real algebraic integers, but not rational integers in general. The author classifies fusion categories generated by a simple object with Frobenius-Perron dimension strictly less than 2 (Theorem 1.1), subject to one technical condition. This technical condition is assumed so that a result, attributed to Scott Morrison and Noah Snyder by the author (Theorem 2.13), may be used which states that any fusion category generated in this way is a cyclic extension (in the sense of [\textit{P. Etingof} et al., Quantum Topol. 1, No. 3, 209--273 (2010; Zbl 1214.18007)]) of a well-known fusion category arising from the representation theory of \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) (for example, refer to [\textit{A. Kirillov jun.} and \textit{V. Ostrik}, Adv. Math. 171, No. 2, 183--227 (2002; Zbl 1024.17013)]). The main tools needed to compute extensions of a fusion category \(\mathcal{C}\) by a finite group \(G\) are the Brauer-Picard group of \(\mathcal{C}\) and cohomological data related to \(G\). The Brauer-Picard groups needed for the proof of Theorem 1.1 were computed by the author previously in [\textit{C. Edie-Michell}, Int. J. Math. 29, No. 5, Article ID 1850036, 43 p. (2018; Zbl 1400.46050)]. An included appendix describes the fusion rules with the generating object in two cases.