Decomposing the Tube Category

Abstract

The tube category of a modular tensor category is a variant of the tube algebra, first introduced by Ocneanu. As a category, it can be decomposed in two different, but related, senses. Firstly, via the Yoneda embedding, the Hom spaces decompose into summands factoring though irreducible functors, in a manner analogous to decomposing an algebra as a sum of matrix algebras. We describe these summands. Secondly, under the Yoneda embedding, each object decomposes into irreducibles, which correspond to primitive idempotents in the category itself. We identify these idempotents. We make extensive use of diagram calculus in the description and proof of these decompositions.