Arboreal tensor categories

Abstract

We introduce some new symmetric tensor categories based on the combinatorics of trees: a discrete family $\mathcal{D}(n)$, for $n\ge 3$ an integer, and a continuous family $\mathcal{C}(t)$, for $t\ne 1$ a complex number. The construction is based on the general oligomorphic theory of Harman--Snowden, but relies on two non-trivial results we establish. The first determines the measures for the class of trees, and the second is a semi-simplicity theorem. These categories have some notable properties: for instance, $\mathcal{C}(t)$ is the first example of a 1-parameter family of pre-Tannakian categories of superexponential growth that cannot be obtained by interpolating categories of moderate growth.

37 pages