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• The pentagon axiom: for all quadruples of objects U, V, W, X ∈ Obj(C) the following<br />

diagram commutes<br />

(U ⊗ V ) ⊗ (W ⊗ X)<br />

<br />

<br />

a U⊗V,W,X<br />

a U,V,W ⊗X<br />

<br />

<br />

((U ⊗ V ) ⊗ W ) ⊗ X<br />

U ⊗ (V ⊗ (W ⊗ X))<br />

<br />

a U,V,W ⊗id X<br />

<br />

id U ⊗a V,W,X<br />

(U ⊗ (V ⊗ W )) ⊗ X<br />

a U,V ⊗W,X<br />

U ⊗ ((V ⊗ W ) ⊗ X)<br />

• The triangle axiom: for all pairs of objects V, W ∈ Obj(C) the following diagram<br />

commutes<br />

a V,I,W<br />

(V ⊗ I) ⊗ W<br />

V ⊗ (I ⊗ W )<br />

r<br />

<br />

V ⊗id W<br />

id<br />

<br />

V ⊗l<br />

<br />

W<br />

V ⊗ W<br />

Remarks 2.4.3.<br />

1. A monoidal category can be considered as a higher analogue of an associative, unital<br />

monoid, hence the name. The associator a is, however, a structure, not a property. A<br />

property is imposed at the level of natural transformations in the form of the pentagon<br />

axiom. For a given category C and a given tensor product ⊗, inequivalent associators can<br />

exist. Any associator a gives for any triple U, V, W of objects an isomorphism<br />

such that all diagrams of the form<br />

a U,V,W : (U ⊗ V ) ⊗ W → U ⊗ (V ⊗ W )<br />

(U ⊗ V ) ⊗ W<br />

a U,V,W U ⊗ (V ⊗ W )<br />

(f⊗g)⊗h<br />

<br />

(U ′ ⊗ V ′ ) ⊗ W ′ a U ′ ,V ′ ,W ′<br />

f⊗(g⊗h)<br />

<br />

U ⊗ (V ⊗ W )<br />

commute.<br />

2. The pentagon axiom can be shown to guarantee that one can change the bracketing of<br />

multiple tensor products in a unique way. This is known as Mac Lane’s coherence theorem.<br />

We refer to [Kassel, XI.5] for details.<br />

3. A tensor category is called strict , if the natural transformations a, l and r are the identity.<br />

One can show that any tensor category can be replaced by an equivalent strict tensor<br />

category.<br />

Examples 2.4.4.<br />

1. The category of vector spaces over a fixed field K is a tensor category which is not strict.<br />

(See the appendix for information about this tensor category.) Tacitly, it is frequently<br />

replaced by an equivalent strict tensor category.<br />

26

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