English

Compact Semisimple Tensor 2-Categories are Morita Connected

Quantum Algebra 2025-05-27 v2 Category Theory

Abstract

In arXiv:2211.04917, it was shown that, over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, every fusion 2-category is Morita equivalent to a connected fusion 2-category, that is, one arising from a braided fusion 1-category. This result has recently allowed for a complete classification of fusion 2-categories. Here we establish that compact semisimple tensor 2-categories, which generalize fusion 2-categories to an arbitrary field of characteristic zero, also enjoy this ``Morita connectedness'' property. In order to do so, we generalize to an arbitrary field of characteristic zero many well-known results about braided fusion 1-categories over an algebraically closed field. Most notably, we prove that the Picard group of any braided fusion 1-category is indfinite, generalizing the classical fact that the Brauer group of a field is torsion. As an application of our main result, we derive the existence of braided fusion 1-categories indexed by the fourth Galois cohomology group of the absolute Galois group that represent interesting classes in the appropriate Witt groups.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2412.15019,
  title  = {Compact Semisimple Tensor 2-Categories are Morita Connected},
  author = {Thibault D. Décoppet and Sean Sanford},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.15019},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T20:42:31.916Z