Derived counterparts of fusion categories of quantum groups

TL;DR

This paper develops a derived framework for fusion categories associated with quantum groups, enabling fusion definitions without tilting modules and connecting to known algebraic structures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel derived approach to fusion categories of quantum groups that generalizes the fusion ring concept beyond tilting modules.

Findings

Derived fusion categories recover classical fusion rings in complexified Grothendieck groups.

Fusion can be defined without tilting modules in spherical categories.

Connections established with rings of A. Lachowska.

Abstract

In this text, we study derived versions of the fusion category associated to Lusztig's quantum group $\textbf{U}_q$. The categories that so arise are non-semisimple but recovers the usual fusion ring when passing to complexified Grothendieck rings. On the derived level it turns out that it is possible to define fusion for $\textbf{U}_q$ without using the notion of tilting modules. Hence, we arrive at a definition of the fusion ring that makes sense in any spherical category. We apply this new definition to the small quantum group and we related with some rings of A. Lachowska.