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Gauging Noninvertible Defects: A 2-Categorical Perspective

Category Theory 2023-04-03 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Algebra

Abstract

We generalize the notion of an anomaly for a symmetry to a noninvertible symmetry enacted by surface operators using the framework of condensation in 2-categories. Given a multifusion 2-category, potentially with some additional levels of monoidality, we prove theorems about the structure of the 2-category obtained by condensing a suitable algebra object. We give examples where the resulting category displays grouplike fusion rules and through a cohomology computation, find the obstruction to condensing further to the vacuum theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.08436,
  title  = {Gauging Noninvertible Defects: A 2-Categorical Perspective},
  author = {Thibault D. Décoppet and Matthew Yu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.08436},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

26 pages, v2 a new theorem about symmetric fusion 2-categories is added

R2 v1 2026-06-28T05:58:55.421Z