Hopf categories and the categorification of the Heisenberg algebra via graphical calculus

Abstract

We explore the connection between the notion of Hopf category and the categorification of the infinite dimensional Heisenberg algebra via graphical calculus proposed by M.Khovanov. We show that the existence of a Hopf structure on a semisimple symmetric monoidal abelian category implies existence of a categorical action in the sense of Khovanov and thus leads to a strong categorification of this algebra.