No Arabic abstract
We describe graded commutative Gorenstein algebras ${mathcal E}_n(p)$ over a field of characteristic $p$, and we conjecture that $mathrm{Ext}^bullet_{mathsf{Ver}_{p^{n+1}}}(1,1)cong{mathcal E}_{n}(p)$, where $mathsf{Ver}_{p^{n+1}}$ are the new symmetric tensor categories recently constructed in cite{Benson/Etingof:2019a,Benson/Etingof/Ostrik,Coulembier}. We investigate the combinatorics of these algebras, and the relationship with Mincs partition function, as well as possible actions of the Steenrod operations on them. Evidence for the conjecture includes a large number of computations for small values of $n$. We also provide some theoretical evidence. Namely, we use a Koszul construction to identify a homogeneous system of parameters in ${mathcal E}_n(p)$ with a homogeneous system of parameters in $mathrm{Ext}^bullet_{mathsf{Ver}_{p^{n+1}}}(1,1)$. These parameters have degrees $2^i-1$ if $p=2$ and $2(p^i-1)$ if $p$ is odd, for $1le i le n$. This at least shows that $mathrm{Ext}^bullet_{mathsf{Ver}_{p^{n+1}}}(1,1)$ is a finitely generated graded commutative algebra with the same Krull dimension as ${mathcal E}_n(p)$. For $p=2$ we also show that $mathrm{Ext}^bullet_{mathsf{Ver}_{2^{n+1}}}(1,1)$ has the expected rank $2^{n(n-1)/2}$ as a module over the subalgebra of parameters.
We propose a method of constructing abelian envelopes of symmetric rigid monoidal Karoubian categories over an algebraically closed field $bf k$. If ${rm char}({bf k})=p>0$, we use this method to construct generalizations ${rm Ver}_{p^n}$, ${rm Ver}_{p^n}^+$ of the incompressible abelian symmetric tensor categories defined in arXiv:1807.05549 for $p=2$ and by Gelfand-Kazhdan and Georgiev-Mathieu for $n=1$. Namely, ${rm Ver}_{p^n}$ is the abelian envelope of the quotient of the category of tilting modules for $SL_2(bf k)$ by the $n$-th Steinberg module, and ${rm Ver}_{p^n}^+$ is its subcategory generated by $PGL_2(bf k)$-modules. We show that ${rm Ver}_{p^n}$ are reductions to characteristic $p$ of Verlinde braided tensor categories in characteristic zero, which explains the notation. We study the structure of these categories in detail, and in particular show that they categorify the real cyclotomic rings $mathbb{Z}[2cos(2pi/p^n)]$, and that ${rm Ver}_{p^n}$ embeds into ${rm Ver}_{p^{n+1}}$. We conjecture that every symmetric tensor category of moderate growth over $bf k$ admits a fiber functor to the union ${rm Ver}_{p^infty}$ of the nested sequence ${rm Ver}_{p}subset {rm Ver}_{p^2}subsetcdots$. This would provide an analog of Delignes theorem in characteristic zero and a generalization of the result of arXiv:1503.01492, which shows that this conjecture holds for fusion categories, and then moreover the fiber functor lands in ${rm Ver}_p$.
We develop a theory of Frobenius functors for symmetric tensor categories (STC) $mathcal{C}$ over a field $bf k$ of characteristic $p$, and give its applications to classification of such categories. Namely, we define a twisted-linear symmetric monoidal functor $F: mathcal{C}to mathcal{C}boxtimes {rm Ver}_p$, where ${rm Ver}_p$ is the Verlinde category (the semisimplification of ${rm Rep}_{bf k}(mathbb{Z}/p)$). This generalizes the usual Frobenius twist functor in modular representation theory and also one defined in arXiv:1503.01492, where it is used to show that if $mathcal{C}$ is finite and semisimple then it admits a fiber functor to ${rm Ver}_p$. The main new feature is that when $mathcal{C}$ is not semisimple, $F$ need not be left or right exact, and in fact this lack of exactness is the main obstruction to the existence of a fiber functor $mathcal{C}to {rm Ver}_p$. We show, however, that there is a 6-periodic long exact sequence which is a replacement for the exactness of $F$, and use it to show that for categories with finitely many simple objects $F$ does not increase the Frobenius-Perron dimension. We also define the notion of a Frobenius exact category, which is a STC on which $F$ is exact, and define the canonical maximal Frobenius exact subcategory $mathcal{C}_{rm ex}$ inside any STC $mathcal{C}$ with finitely many simple objects. Namely, this is the subcategory of all objects whose Frobenius-Perron dimension is preserved by $F$. We prove that a finite STC is Frobenius exact if and only if it admits a (necessarily unique) fiber functor to ${rm Ver}_p$. We also show that a sufficiently large power of $F$ lands in $mathcal{C}_{rm ex}$. Also, in characteristic 2 we introduce a slightly weaker notion of an almost Frobenius exact category and show that a STC with Chevalley property is (almost) Frobenius exact.
A fundamental theorem of P. Deligne (2002) states that a pre-Tannakian category over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero admits a fiber functor to the category of supervector spaces (i.e., is the representation category of an affine proalgebraic supergroup) if and only if it has moderate growth (i.e., the lengths of tensor powers of an object grow at most exponentially). In this paper we prove a characteristic p version of this theorem. Namely we show that a pre-Tannakian category over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p>0 admits a fiber functor into the Verlinde category Ver_p (i.e., is the representation category of an affine group scheme in Ver_p) if and only if it has moderate growth and is Frobenius exact. This implies that Frobenius exact pre-Tannakian categories of moderate growth admit a well-behaved notion of Frobenius-Perron dimension. It follows that any semisimple pre-Tannakian category of moderate growth has a fiber functor to Ver_p (so in particular Delignes theorem holds on the nose for semisimple pre-Tannakian categories in characteristics 2,3). This settles a conjecture of the third author from 2015. In particular, this result applies to semisimplifications of categories of modular representations of finite groups (or, more generally, affine group schemes), which gives new applications to classical modular representation theory. For example, it allows us to characterize, for a modular representation V, the possible growth rates of the number of indecomposable summands in V^{otimes n} of dimension prime to p.
We present new constructions of several of the exceptional simple Lie superalgebras in characteristic $p = 3$ and $p = 5$ by considering the images of exceptional Lie algebras with a nilpotent derivation under the semisimplification functor from $mathrm{Rep} mathbf{alpha}_p$ to the Verlinde category $mathrm{Ver}_p$.
We prove an analog of Delignes theorem for finite symmetric tensor categories $mathcal{C}$ with the Chevalley property over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $2$. Namely, we prove that every such category $mathcal{C}$ admits a symmetric fiber functor to the symmetric tensor category $mathcal{D}$ of representations of the triangular Hopf algebra $(k[dd]/(dd^2),1ot 1 + ddot dd)$. Equivalently, we prove that there exists a unique finite group scheme $G$ in $mathcal{D}$ such that $mathcal{C}$ is symmetric tensor equivalent to $Rep_{mathcal{D}}(G)$. Finally, we compute the group $H^2_{rm inv}(A,K)$ of equivalence classes of twists for the group algebra $K[A]$ of a finite abelian $p$-group $A$ over an arbitrary field $K$ of characteristic $p>0$, and the Sweedler cohomology groups $H^i_{rm{Sw}}(mathcal{O}(A),K)$, $ige 1$, of the function algebra $mathcal{O}(A)$ of $A$.