Event № 619

Let G be a finite group. A theorem of Deligne implies that Rep-G, considered as a symmetric monoidal category, determines G. The claim is not true when we consider Rep-G only as a monoidal category (without the symmetric structure). Etingof and Gelaki called two finite groups G_1 and G_2 isocategorical if Rep-G_1 and Rep-G_2 are equivalent as monoidal categories. They also gave a characterization of isocategorical groups. To put it in other words: for a given symmetric monoidal category C (which satisfies some properties), there is a correspondence between symmetric structures on C and isomorphism classes of finite groups G for which C is equivalent to Rep-G. 

Each symmetric monoidal category gives rise to a sequence of Adams operations, which are operations on the Grothendieck group of C, determined by the symmetric structure of C. In this talk we will discuss the question of to what extent do the Adams operations determine the symmetric structure on C. We will show that the Odd Adams operations are in fact independent of the specific symmetric structure (though this is not clear a-priori from the definition). We will also show that this is not true for the second Adams operation by giving some examples. We will discuss some remain open questions and describe the group of monoidal autoequivalences of Rep-G.