English

$\otimes$-Frobenius functors and exact module categories

Quantum Algebra 2026-02-24 v3 Category Theory Representation Theory

Abstract

We call a tensor functor F:CDF:\mathcal{C}\to\mathcal{D} between finite tensor categories \otimes-Frobenius if its left and right adjoints are isomorphic as C\mathcal{C}-bimodule functors. We give several characterizations of this notion -- most notably, FF is \otimes-Frobenius if and only if the centralizer Z(F ⁣D ⁣F)Z({}_{F}\!{\mathcal{D}}_{\!F}) is unimodular. We use them to analyze how actions on module categories behave under pullback along FF. For perfect functors, we show that twisting a D\mathcal{D}-module category M\mathcal{M} along FF preserves exactness, and that pivotality, unimodularity, and sphericality are preserved whenever FF is \otimes-Frobenius (or, more generally, Frobenius with respect to M\mathcal{M}). Applications include: (i) explicit criteria for \otimes-Frobenius functors arising from bialgebra maps f ⁣: ⁣H ⁣ ⁣Hf\!:\!H'\!\to\!H between finite-dimensional Hopf algebras; and (ii) criteria ensuring that objects of internal natural transformations are (symmetric) Frobenius algebras in Z(C)Z(\mathcal{C}). Along the way we show that central tensor functors are Frobenius iff they are \otimes-Frobenius and that any tensor functor between separable fusion categories is \otimes-Frobenius, answering questions of Flake-Laugwitz-Posur.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.16978,
  title  = {$\otimes$-Frobenius functors and exact module categories},
  author = {David Jaklitsch and Harshit Yadav},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.16978},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

v3: 35 pages. Article shortened by removing parts of section 5. Final version - to appear in IMRN

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:22:06.284Z