An Introduction to Deligne Categories

Abstract

This work hopes to be an introduction to Deligne categories for someone familiar with classical representation theory and some category theory. In the first chapter, we motivate and define (symmetric) tensor categories, construct the Deligne categories, and prove their universal properties. In the second chapter, we define ultraproducts and use them to construct the Deligne categories in a different way; in particular, this construction works in positive characteristic. In the third chapter, we connect Deligne categories to the classical categories by discussing simple objects and explaining what happens in the $t = n$ case. In the last chapter, along with recommendations for further and related reading, we give an example of an investigation of Harish-Chandra bimodules in representation theory in complex rank, which is a joint work with Alexandra Utiralova (arXiv:2107.03173).