English

On the comparison of spans and bisets

Category Theory 2020-09-10 v2 Group Theory Representation Theory

Abstract

We compare the bicategory of spans with that of bisets (a.k.a. bimodules, distributors, profunctors) in the context of finite groupoids. We construct in particular a well-behaved pseudo-functor from spans to bisets. This yields an application to the axiomatic representation theory of finite groups, namely a new proof and a strengthening of Ganter and Nakaoka's identification of Bouc's category of biset functors as a reflective subcategory of global Mackey functors. To this end, we also prove a tensor-monadicity result for linear functor categories.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2006.10375,
  title  = {On the comparison of spans and bisets},
  author = {Ivo Dell'Ambrogio and James Huglo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.10375},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

28 pages. Final version, to appear in Cah. Topol. G\'eom. Differ. Cat\'eg