# HG changeset patch # User Kevin Walker # Date 1279127200 21600 # Node ID 10f0f68cafb49eba582b48e50e4f170ad8c1ea67 # Parent 9576c3d68a3ddaa1545dd63af5e89910389786e6 mostly (entirely?) ncat revisions diff -r 9576c3d68a3d -r 10f0f68cafb4 text/ncat.tex --- a/text/ncat.tex Tue Jul 13 12:47:58 2010 -0600 +++ b/text/ncat.tex Wed Jul 14 11:06:40 2010 -0600 @@ -1754,8 +1754,6 @@ \nn{...} - - \medskip @@ -1767,23 +1765,23 @@ - - - - \subsection{The $n{+}1$-category of sphere modules} \label{ssec:spherecat} -In this subsection we define an $n{+}1$-category $\cS$ of ``sphere modules" +In this subsection we define $n{+}1$-categories $\cS$ of ``sphere modules" whose objects are $n$-categories. -When $n=2$ -this is closely related to the familiar $2$-category of algebras, bimodules and intertwiners. +With future applications in mind, we treat simultaneously the big category +of all $n$-categories and all sphere modules and also subcategories thereof. +When $n=1$ this is closely related to familiar $2$-categories consisting of +algebras, bimodules and intertwiners (or a subcategory of that). + While it is appropriate to call an $S^0$ module a bimodule, this is much less true for higher dimensional spheres, so we prefer the term ``sphere module" for the general case. -The results of this subsection are not needed for the rest of the paper, -so we will skimp on details in a couple of places. We have included this mostly for the sake of comparing our notion of a topological $n$-category to other definitions. +%The results of this subsection are not needed for the rest of the paper, +%so we will skimp on details in a couple of places. We have included this mostly +%for the sake of comparing our notion of a topological $n$-category to other definitions. For simplicity, we will assume that $n$-categories are enriched over $\c$-vector spaces. @@ -1806,12 +1804,15 @@ We start with $0$-sphere modules, which also could reasonably be called (categorified) bimodules. (For $n=1$ they are precisely bimodules in the usual, uncategorified sense.) +We prefer the more awkward term ``0-sphere module" to emphasize the analogy +with the higher sphere modules defined below. + Define a $0$-marked $k$-ball, $1\le k \le n$, to be a pair $(X, M)$ homeomorphic to the standard $(B^k, B^{k-1})$. See Figure \ref{feb21a}. Another way to say this is that $(X, M)$ is homeomorphic to $B^{k-1}\times([-1,1], \{0\})$. -\begin{figure}[!ht] +\begin{figure}[t] $$\tikz[baseline,line width=2pt]{\draw[blue] (-2,0)--(2,0); \fill[red] (0,0) circle (0.1);} \qquad \qquad \tikz[baseline,line width=2pt]{\draw[blue][fill=blue!30!white] (0,0) circle (2 and 1); \draw[red] (0,1)--(0,-1);}$$ \caption{0-marked 1-ball and 0-marked 2-ball} \label{feb21a} @@ -1852,7 +1853,7 @@ (see Figure \ref{feb21b}). These restrictions are 0-morphisms $(a, b)$ of $\cA$ and $\cB$. -\begin{figure}[!ht] +\begin{figure}[t] $$ \begin{tikzpicture}[blue,line width=2pt] \draw (0,1) -- (0,-1) node[below] {$X$}; @@ -1875,13 +1876,13 @@ More generally, consider an interval with interior marked points, and with the complements of these points labeled by $n$-categories $\cA_i$ ($0\le i\le l$) and the marked points labeled -by $\cA_i$-$\cA_{i+1}$ bimodules $\cM_i$. +by $\cA_i$-$\cA_{i+1}$ 0-sphere modules $\cM_i$. (See Figure \ref{feb21c}.) To this data we can apply the coend construction as in \S\ref{moddecss} above to obtain an $\cA_0$-$\cA_l$ $0$-sphere module and, forgetfully, an $n{-}1$-category. -This amounts to a definition of taking tensor products of $0$-sphere module over $n$-categories. +This amounts to a definition of taking tensor products of $0$-sphere modules over $n$-categories. -\begin{figure}[!ht] +\begin{figure}[t] $$ \begin{tikzpicture}[baseline,line width = 2pt] \draw[blue] (0,0) -- (6,0); @@ -1913,7 +1914,7 @@ associated to the marked and labeled circle. (See Figure \ref{feb21c}.) If the circle is divided into two intervals, we can think of this $n{-}1$-category -as the 2-sided tensor product of the two bimodules associated to the two intervals. +as the 2-sided tensor product of the two 0-sphere modules associated to the two intervals. \medskip @@ -1924,13 +1925,13 @@ Equivalently, we can define 1-sphere modules in terms of 1-marked $k$-balls, $2\le k\le n$. Fix a marked (and labeled) circle $S$. Let $C(S)$ denote the cone of $S$, a marked 2-ball (Figure \ref{feb21d}). -\nn{I need to make up my mind whether marked things are always labeled too. -For the time being, let's say they are.} +%\nn{I need to make up my mind whether marked things are always labeled too. +%For the time being, let's say they are.} A 1-marked $k$-ball is anything homeomorphic to $B^j \times C(S)$, $0\le j\le n-2$, where $B^j$ is the standard $j$-ball. A 1-marked $k$-ball can be decomposed in various ways into smaller balls, which are either (a) smaller 1-marked $k$-balls, (b) 0-marked $k$-balls, or (c) plain $k$-balls. -(See Figure xxxx.) +(See Figure \nn{need figure}.) We now proceed as in the above module definitions. \begin{figure}[!ht] @@ -1977,14 +1978,14 @@ \medskip We can now define the $n$-or-less-dimensional part of our $n{+}1$-category $\cS$. -Choose some collection of $n$-categories, then choose some collections of bimodules between +Choose some collection of $n$-categories, then choose some collections of 0-sphere modules between these $n$-categories, then choose some collection of 1-sphere modules for the various -possible marked 1-spheres labeled by the $n$-categories and bimodules, and so on. +possible marked 1-spheres labeled by the $n$-categories and 0-sphere modules, and so on. Let $L_i$ denote the collection of $i{-}1$-sphere modules we have chosen. (For convenience, we declare a $(-1)$-sphere module to be an $n$-category.) There is a wide range of possibilities. The set $L_0$ could contain infinitely many $n$-categories or just one. -For each pair of $n$-categories in $L_0$, $L_1$ could contain no bimodules at all or +For each pair of $n$-categories in $L_0$, $L_1$ could contain no 0-sphere modules at all or it could contain several. The only requirement is that each $k$-sphere module be a module for a $k$-sphere $n{-}k$-category constructed out of labels taken from $L_j$ for $j