Reconstruction of module categories in the infinite and non-rigid settings

Abstract

By building on the notions of internal projective and injective objects in a module category introduced by Douglas, Schommer-Pries, and Snyder, we extend the reconstruction theory for module categories of Etingof and Ostrik. More explicitly, instead of algebra objects in finite tensor categories, we consider quasi-finite coalgebra objects in locally finite tensor categories. Moreover, we show that module categories over non-rigid monoidal categories can be reconstructed via lax module monads, which generalize algebra objects. For the monoidal category of finite-dimensional comodules over a (non-Hopf) bialgebra, we give this result a more concrete form, realizing module categories as categories of contramodules over Hopf trimodule algebras -- this specializes to our tensor-categorical results in the Hopf case. In this context, we also give a precise Morita theorem, as well as an analogue of the Eilenberg--Watts theorem for lax module monads and, as a consequence, for Hopf trimodule algebras. Using lax module functors we give a categorical proof of the variant of the fundamental theorem of Hopf modules which applies to Hopf trimodules. We also give a characterization of fusion operators for a Hopf monad as coherence cells for a module functor structure, using which we similarly reinterpret and reprove the Hopf-monadic fundamental theorem of Hopf modules due to Bruguières, Lack, and Virelizier.