This is an introduction for algebraists to the theory of algebras and Hopf algebras in braided categories. Such objects generalise super-algebras and super-Hopf algebras, as well as colour-Lie algebras. Basic facts about braided categories C are recalled, the modules and comodules of Hopf algebras in such categories are studied, the notion of ‘braided-commutative ’ or ‘braided-cocommutative ’ Hopf algebras (braided groups) is reviewed and a fully diagrammatic proof of the reconstruction theorem for a braided group Aut (C) is given. The theory has important implications for the theory of quasitriangular Hopf algebras (quantum groups). It also includes important examples such as the degenerate Sklyanin algebra and the quantum plane.

We begin with a brief sketch of what is known and conjectured concerning braided monoidal 2-categories and their relevance to 4d TQFTs and 2-tangles. Then we give concise definitions of semistrict monoidal 2-categories and braided monoidal 2-categories, and show how these may be unpacked to give long explicit definitions similar to, but not quite the same as, those given by Kapranov and Voevodsky. Finally, we describe how to construct a semistrict braided monoidal 2-category Z(C) as the `center' of a semistrict monoidal category C, in a manner analogous to the construction of a braided monoidal category as the center of a monoidal category. As a corollary this yields a strictification theorem for braided monoidal 2-categories. 1 Introduction This is the first of a series of articles developing the program introduced in the paper `Higher-Dimensional Algebra and Topological Quantum Field Theory' [1], henceforth referred to as `HDA'. This program consists of generalizing algebraic concep...

A 2-Hilbert space is a category with structures and properties analogous to those of a Hilbert space. More precisely, we define a 2-Hilbert space to be an abelian category enriched over Hilb with a ∗-structure, conjugate-linear on the hom-sets, satisfying 〈fg,h 〉 = 〈g,f ∗ h 〉 = 〈f,hg ∗ 〉. We also define monoidal, braided monoidal, and symmetric monoidal versions of 2-Hilbert spaces, which we call 2-H*-algebras, braided 2-H*-algebras, and symmetric 2-H*-algebras, and we describe the relation between these and tangles in 2, 3, and 4 dimensions, respectively. We prove a generalized Doplicher-Roberts theorem stating that every symmetric 2-H*-algebra is equivalent to the category Rep(G) of continuous unitary finite-dimensional representations of some compact supergroupoid G. The equivalence is given by a categorified version of the Gelfand transform; we also construct a categorified version of the Fourier transform when G is a compact abelian group. Finally, we characterize Rep(G) by its universal properties when G is a compact classical group. For example, Rep(U(n)) is the free connected symmetric 2-H*-algebra on one even object of dimension n. 1

Given a braided tensor ∗-category C with conjugate (dual) objects and irreducible unit together with a full symmetric subcategory S we define a crossed product C ⋊ S. This construction yields a tensor ∗-category with conjugates and an irreducible unit. (A ∗-category is a category enriched over VectC with positive ∗-operation.) A Galois correspondence is established between intermediate categories sitting between C and C ⋊S and closed subgroups of the Galois group Gal(C⋊S/C) = AutC(C⋊S) of C, the latter being isomorphic to the compact group associated to S by the duality theorem of Doplicher and Roberts. Denoting by D ⊂ C the full subcategory of degenerate objects, i.e. objects which have trivial monodromy with all objects of C, the braiding of C extends to a braiding of C⋊S iff S ⊂ D. Under this condition C⋊S has no non-trivial degenerate objects iff S = D. If the original category C is rational (i.e. has only finitely many isomorphism classes of irreducible objects) then the same holds for the new one. The category C ≡ C ⋊ D is called the modular closure of C since in the rational case it is modular, i.e. gives rise to a unitary representation of the modular group SL(2, Z). (In passing we prove that every braided tensor ∗-category with conjugates automatically is a ribbon category, i.e. has a twist.) If all simple objects of S have dimension one the structure of the category C ⋊ S can be clarified quite explicitly in terms of group cohomology. 1

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Triangular Hopf algebras were introduced by Drinfeld [Dr]. They are the Hopf algebras whose representations form a symmetric tensor category. In that sense, they are the class of Hopf algebras closest to group algebras. The structure of triangular Hopf algebras is far from

1.2. The axioms

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Much of algebra and representation theory can be formulated in the general framework of tensor categories. The aim of this paper is to further develop this theory for braided tensor categories. Several results are established that do not have a substantial counterpart for symmetric tensor categories. In particular, we exhibit various equivalences involving categories of modules over algebras in ribbon categories. Finally we establish a correspondence of ribbon categories that can be applied to, and is in fact motivated by, the coset construction in conformal quantum field theory.

Fix a prime number ℓ. In this paper we prove a conjecture [16, p. 300], which Ihara attributes to Deligne, about the action of the absolute Galois group on the pro-ℓ completion of the fundamental group of the thrice punctured projective line. It is stated below. Similar techniques are also used to prove part of a conjecture