The free 2-rig conjecture for representations of the orthogonal group

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Let kk be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, let II be the unit for the tensor product, and let xx be a self-dual object of dimension nn. Let ϵ ⁣:x⊗x→I\epsilon\colon x\otimes x\to I be its counit, and let Sx,xS_{x,x} denote the symmetry isomorphism exchanging the two copies of xx. The orthogonal representation 2-rig conjecture. The 2-rig Rep(O(n,k))\mathsf{Rep}(\mathrm{O}(n,k)) is the free 2-rig on such an object xx whose counit is symmetric:

ϵ∘Sx,x=ϵ.\epsilon\circ S_{x,x}=\epsilon.

The algebraic-closedness assumption ensures that all nondegenerate symmetric bilinear forms on an nn-dimensional vector space over kk are isomorphic; the conjecture is another proposed universal characterization for a classical-group representation 2-rig.

References

Primary source

John C. Baez and Todd Trimble, “Tannaka Reconstruction and the Monoid of Matrices”, arXiv:2504.03094 (2025).

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