Coherence conjecture for n-fold monoidal categories

Let C\mathcal{C} be an nn-fold monoidal category with products (1),,(n)\otimes^{(1)},\ldots,\otimes^{(n)}, units, associators, unitors, and interchange morphisms. For families of objects Xa1,,anX_{a_1,\ldots,a_n} indexed by sets A1,,AnA_1,\ldots,A_n, consider maps

a1A1(1)anAn(n)Xa1,,ananAn(n)a1A1(1)Xa1,,an.\bigotimes^{(1)}_{a_1\in A_1}\cdots\bigotimes^{(n)}_{a_n\in A_n}X_{a_1,\ldots,a_n}\longrightarrow\bigotimes^{(n)}_{a_n\in A_n}\cdots\bigotimes^{(1)}_{a_1\in A_1}X_{a_1,\ldots,a_n}.

Coherence conjecture. All such maps defined as composites of associators, unitors, and interchange morphisms are equal.

This would extend Mac Lane's coherence theorem from monoidal categories to the multiple interacting monoidal structures considered here. The source presents it as a conjectural coherence result, and gives no resolution.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

James Cranch and Georg Struth, “Interacting Monoidal Structures with Applications in Computing”, arXiv:2411.03821 (2024).

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