A Diagrammatic Temperley-Lieb Categorification

The monoidal category of Soergel bimodules categorifies the Hecke algebra of a finite Weyl group. In the case of the symmetric group, morphisms in this category can be drawn as graphs in the plane. We define a quotient category, also given in terms of planar graphs, which categorifies the Temperley-Lieb algebra. Certain ideals appearing in this quotient are related both to the 1-skeleton of the Coxeter complex and to the topology of 2D cobordisms. We demonstrate how further subquotients of this category will categorify the cell modules of the Temperley-Lieb algebra.Comment: long awaited update to published versio

Thick Soergel calculus in type A

Let R be the polynomial ring in n variables, acted on by the symmetric group S_n. Soergel constructed a full monoidal subcategory of R-bimodules which categorifies the Hecke algebra, whose objects are now known as Soergel bimodules. Soergel bimodules can be described as summands of Bott-Samelson bimodules (attached to sequences of simple reflections), or as summands of generalized Bott-Samelson bimodules (attached to sequences of parabolic subgroups). A diagrammatic presentation of the category of Bott-Samelson bimodules was given by the author and Khovanov in previous work. In this paper, we extend it to a presentation of the category of generalized Bott-Samelson bimodules. We also diagrammatically categorify the representations of the Hecke algebra which are induced from trivial representations of parabolic subgroups. The main tool is an explicit description of the idempotent which picks out a generalized Bott-Samelson bimodule as a summand inside a Bott-Samelson bimodule. This description uses a detailed analysis of the reduced expression graph of the longest element of S_n, and the semi-orientation on this graph given by the higher Bruhat order of Manin and Schechtman.Comment: Changed title. Expanded the exposition of the main proof. This paper relies extensively on color figure

Diagrammatics for Coxeter groups and their braid groups

We give a monoidal presentation of Coxeter and braid 2-groups, in terms of decorated planar graphs. This presentation extends the Coxeter presentation. We deduce a simple criterion for a Coxeter group or braid group to act on a category.Comment: Many figures, best viewed in color. Minor updates. This version agrees with the published versio