To 2-categorify the theory of group representations, we introduce the notions of the 3-representation of a group in a strict 3-category and the strict 2-categorical action of a group on a strict 2-category. We also 2-categorify the concept of the trace by introducing the 2-categorical trace of a 1-endomorphism in a strict 3-category. For a 3-representation $\rho$ of a group G and an element f of G, the 2-categorical trace $Tr_2\rho_f$ is a category. Moreover, the centralizer of f in G acts categorically on this 2-categorical trace. We construct the induced strict 2-categorical action of a finite group, and show that the 2-categorical trace $Tr_2$ takes an induced strict 2-categorical action into an induced categorical action of the initia groupoid. As a corollary, we get the 3-character formula of the induced strict 2-categorical action.
Keywords: the 3-representation of a group in a 3-category, the 2-categorical trace, the 3-cocycle condition, the induced strict 2-categorical actions, the 3-character, 2-categorification
@article{TAC_2015_30_a55,
author = {Wei Wang},
title = {On the 3-representations of groups and the 2-categorical traces},
journal = {Theory and applications of categories},
pages = {1999--2047},
year = {2015},
volume = {30},
language = {en},
url = {http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/TAC_2015_30_a55/}
}
Wei Wang. On the 3-representations of groups and the 2-categorical traces. Theory and applications of categories, Tome 30 (2015), pp. 1999-2047. http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/TAC_2015_30_a55/