arXiv:2305.04729 · Journal of High Energy Physics
Drinfel’d double symmetry of the 4d Kitaev model
Hank Chen
Abstract
Abstract Following the general theory of categorified quantum groups developed by the author previously, we construct the Drinfel’d double 2-bialgebra associated to a finite group N = G0. For N = ℤ2, we explicitly compute the braided 2-categories of 2-representations of certain version of this Drinfel’d double 2-bialgebra, and prove that they characterize precisely the 4d toric code and its spin-ℤ2 variant. This result relates the two descriptions (categorical vs. field theoretical) of 4d gapped topological phases in existing literature and displays an instance of higher Tannakian duality for braided 2-categories. In particular, we show that particular twists of the underlying Drinfel’d double 2-bialgebra is responsible for much of the higher-structural properties that arise in 4d topological orders.