The Drinfeld Center of the Generic Temperley--Lieb Category

We show that the Temperley--Lieb category $\mathbf{TL}(q;\mathbb{C})$ embeds in an ultraproduct of modular tensor categories when $q$ is not a root of unity. As a result, we show that its Drinfeld center is semisimple and describe its simple objects. The canonical functor $$\mathbf{TL}(q;\mathbb{C})\boxtimes \mathbf{TL}(q;\mathbb{C})^{\mathrm{rev}} \boxtimes \mathbf{Rep}(\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}) \to \mathcal Z(\mathbf{TL}(q;\mathbb{C})),$$ induced by the braiding and the $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$--grading on the Temperley--Lieb category, is thus shown to be a monoidal equivalence, which becomes a braided equivalence upon twisting the braiding by a certain bicharacter. Along the way, we formalize some general results about ultraproducts of tensor categories and tensor functors, building on earlier works of Crumley, Harman, and Flake--Harman--Laugwitz. We also discuss the center at some exceptional values of $q$.