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One definition of (symmetric) star-autonomous category is as a closed symmetric monoidal category $(C,\otimes,I,\multimap)$ equipped with an object $\bot$ such that all double-dualization maps $A \to ((A\multimap\bot)\multimap \bot)$ are isomorphisms. It follows that the functor $A \mapsto (A\multimap \bot)$ is a contravariant autoequivalence of $C$.

Such an object is sometimes called a dualizing object, although sometimes that name only requires double-dualization to be an isomorphism when $A$ is suitably "finite". Here I'm interested in the case where it is an isomorphism for all objects $A\in C$.

Can a given closed symmetric monoidal category admit more than one star-autonomous structure, i.e. can there be more than one such object $\bot$?

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    $\begingroup$ You can always twist by a $\otimes$-invertible object. In DAG-XIV, Lurie proves that this is the only indeterminacy in a class of examples (see 4.2.9 and 4.2.10 there), but it takes a fair amount of work and auxiliary hypotheses. I'm not sure it holds in general. $\endgroup$
    – Tim Campion
    Oct 30, 2017 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ @TimCampion You mean that if $\bot$ is dualizing and $V$ is invertible then $V\otimes \bot$ is also dualizing? I can sort of imagine how that works, but it would be nice to see it written out; can you post it as an answer? $\endgroup$ Oct 30, 2017 at 19:04

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If a dualizing object exists, there is a bijection between isomorphism classes of dualizing objects and isomorphism classes of $\otimes$-invertible objects (i.e. the Picard group), given by tensoring your favorite dualizing object by a $\otimes$-invertible object. So the groupoid of $\ast$-autonomous structures, if nonempty, is equivalent to the groupoid of $\otimes$-invertible objects (canonically as soon as one chooses a basepoint -- it's a torsor over the grouplike symmetric monoidal groupoid of $\otimes$-invertible objects).

One direction:

First let's check that if $D$ is dualizing and $L$ is $\otimes$-invertible (with inverse $L^\vee$), then $L\otimes D$ is dualizing. Write $[,]$ for the internal hom (sorry, I seem to be changing all of your notation :). Then

$\begin{align*} [[A, L\otimes D], L\otimes D] &= [L^\vee \otimes [A, L\otimes D], D] \\ &= [L^\vee \otimes L \otimes [A,D],D] \\ &= [[A,D],D] \\ &= A \end{align*}$

I suppose I should verify that the above isomorphism is the canonical morphism $A \to [[A, L\otimes D], L\otimes D]$, but since all the isomorphisms used were canonical, maybe I'll just wave my hands and ask rhetorically, "what else could it be?".

The converse:

In fact, it's always the case that any two dualizing objects differ by tensoring by a $\otimes$-invertible object. Here's a proof.

  • First note that if $D$ is dualizing, then $[D,D] = I$. To see this, it suffices to check that $[[D,D],D] = [I,D]$ because $[-,D]$ is a contravariant equivalence of categories. But both sides are $D$, so this is the case.

  • Now if $D,D'$ are both dualizing, I claim that $[D,D']$ is $\otimes$-invertible, with inverse $[D',D]$. To see this, it suffices by symmetry to show that $[D,D'] \otimes [D',D] = I$. To check this, it suffices to check that $[[D,D'] \otimes [D',D],D] = [I,D]$. The lefthand side simplifies to $[[D,D'], [[D',D],D]] = [[D,D'],D'] = D$ where we have curried, and then used the dualizing property of both $D$ and $D'$. Of course, this is the same as the righthand side.

  • Finally, I claim that $D \otimes [D,D'] = D'$. To see this, it suffices to check that $[D \otimes [D,D'], D'] = [D',D']$. We've already seen that the righthand side is $I$ in the first bullet. And the lefthand side simplifies to $[D, [[D,D'],D']] = [D,D] = I$.

So $D$ and $D'$ differ by tensoring by the $\otimes$-invertible object $[D,D']$.

And of course, since tensoring with a $\otimes$-invertible object is an equivalence of categories, the action map $L \mapsto L \otimes D$ is fully faithful; we've just seen it's essentially surjective, so it's an equivalence of groupoids.


Endnote:

More than once I've found myself questioning the equation $[A,L\otimes D] = L \otimes [A,D]$ used in the second line of the forward direction so let me just record the proof here for my own benefit:

$\begin{align*} Hom(X,[A,L\otimes D]) &= Hom(X \otimes A, L\otimes D) \\ &= Hom(X \otimes A \otimes L^\vee, D) \\ &= Hom(X \otimes L^\vee, [A,D]) \\ &= Hom(X, L \otimes [A,D]) \end{align*}$

and conclude by Yoneda. So this isomorphism holds for any dualizable $L$ and arbitrary $A,D$.

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  • $\begingroup$ It might be slightly more straightforward to work with $[L,D]$ instead of $L\otimes D$ $\endgroup$ Oct 30, 2017 at 20:54
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    $\begingroup$ Nice, thanks! In fact, this is one of those magical places where you don't need to show that the isomorphism is the canonical one! If there's any natural isomorphism $A \cong [[A,D],D]$, then the functor $[-,D]$ is an equivalence (since it has both a right and left inverse, namely itself). Hence since it is also adjoint to itself on the right, the unit and counit of that adjunction are isomorphisms; but those are both the canonical map $A\to [[A,D],D]$, so that is an isomorphism too. $\endgroup$ Oct 31, 2017 at 3:22
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    $\begingroup$ Let me still type it out:$$A\to[[A,D],D]\to[[L,[A,D]],[L,D]]\to[[A,[L,D]],[L,D]]$$ $\endgroup$ Oct 31, 2017 at 7:34
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    $\begingroup$ If we fix a dualizing object $\bot$, and set $A^\ast := [A,\bot]$, then we have dual tensor $\&$ defined by $A \&B = (A^\ast \otimes B^\ast)^\ast$ with unit $\bot = I^\ast$. Then the possible dualizing objects $D$ with respect to $\otimes$ are just the invertible objects with respect to $\&$. So one way to phrase all of this is that the Picard groups with respect to $\otimes$ and $\&$ are isomorphic. $\endgroup$
    – Tim Campion
    Nov 1, 2017 at 16:38
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    $\begingroup$ This is spectacular! (I had no idea that such a thing could be true.) I just want to add that, with a small amount of care, the result can be extended to arbitrary (i.e., not necessarily symmetric) $*$-autonomous categories. $\endgroup$
    – Jeff Egger
    Nov 9, 2017 at 15:29

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