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 Q UA S I - H O P F A L G E B R A S

This is the first book to be dedicated entirely to Drinfeld’s quasi-Hopf algebras.

Ideal for graduate students and researchers in mathematics and mathematical
physics, this treatment is largely self-contained, taking the reader from the basics,
with complete proofs, to much more advanced topics, with almost complete proofs.
Many of the proofs are based on general categorical results; the same approach can
then be used in the study of other Hopf-type algebras, for example Turaev or Zunino
Hopf algebras, Hom-Hopf algebras, Hopfish algebras, and in general any algebra for
which the category of representations is monoidal.
Newcomers to the subject will appreciate the detailed introduction to (braided)
monoidal categories, (co)algebras and the other tools they will need in this area.
More advanced readers will benefit from having recent research gathered in one
place, with open questions to inspire their own research.

Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications

This series is devoted to significant topics or themes that have wide application in
mathematics or mathematical science and for which a detailed development of the
abstract theory is less important than a thorough and concrete exploration of the
implications and applications.

Books in the Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications cover their

subjects comprehensively. Less important results may be summarized as exercises at
the ends of chapters. For technicalities, readers can be referred to the bibliography,
which is expected to be comprehensive. As a result, volumes are encyclopedic
references or manageable guides to major subjects.
 Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications

All the titles listed below can be obtained from good booksellers or from Cambridge
University Press. For a complete series listing visit
www.cambridge.org/mathematics.
122 S. Khrushchev Orthogonal Polynomials and Continued Fractions
123 H. Nagamochi and T. Ibaraki Algorithmic Aspects of Graph Connectivity
124 F. W. King Hilbert Transforms I
125 F. W. King Hilbert Transforms II
126 O. Calin and D.-C. Chang Sub-Riemannian Geometry
127 M. Grabisch et al. Aggregation Functions
128 L. W. Beineke and R. J. Wilson (eds.) with J. L. Gross and T. W. Tucker Topics in Topological
Graph Theory
129 J. Berstel, D. Perrin and C. Reutenauer Codes and Automata
130 T. G. Faticoni Modules over Endomorphism Rings
131 H. Morimoto Stochastic Control and Mathematical Modeling
132 G. Schmidt Relational Mathematics
133 P. Kornerup and D. W. Matula Finite Precision Number Systems and Arithmetic
134 Y. Crama and P. L. Hammer (eds.) Boolean Models and Methods in Mathematics, Computer Science,
and Engineering
135 V. Berthé and M. Rigo (eds.) Combinatorics, Automata and Number Theory
136 A. Kristály, V. D. Rădulescu and C. Varga Variational Principles in Mathematical Physics, Geometry,
and Economics
137 J. Berstel and C. Reutenauer Noncommutative Rational Series with Applications
138 B. Courcelle and J. Engelfriet Graph Structure and Monadic Second-Order Logic
139 M. Fiedler Matrices and Graphs in Geometry
140 N. Vakil Real Analysis through Modern Infinitesimals
141 R. B. Paris Hadamard Expansions and Hyperasymptotic Evaluation
142 Y. Crama and P. L. Hammer Boolean Functions
143 A. Arapostathis, V. S. Borkar and M. K. Ghosh Ergodic Control of Diffusion Processes
144 N. Caspard, B. Leclerc and B. Monjardet Finite Ordered Sets
145 D. Z. Arov and H. Dym Bitangential Direct and Inverse Problems for Systems of Integral and
Differential Equations
146 G. Dassios Ellipsoidal Harmonics
147 L. W. Beineke and R. J. Wilson (eds.) with O. R. Oellermann Topics in Structural Graph Theory
148 L. Berlyand, A. G. Kolpakov and A. Novikov Introduction to the Network Approximation Method for
Materials Modeling
149 M. Baake and U. Grimm Aperiodic Order I: A Mathematical Invitation
150 J. Borwein et al. Lattice Sums Then and Now
151 R. Schneider Convex Bodies: The Brunn–Minkowski Theory (Second Edition)
152 G. Da Prato and J. Zabczyk Stochastic Equations in Infinite Dimensions (Second Edition)
153 D. Hofmann, G. J. Seal and W. Tholen (eds.) Monoidal Topology
154 M. Cabrera Garcı́a and Á. Rodrı́guez Palacios Non-Associative Normed Algebras I: The Vidav–Palmer and
Gelfand–Naimark Theorems
155 C. F. Dunkl and Y. Xu Orthogonal Polynomials of Several Variables (Second Edition)
156 L. W. Beineke and R. J. Wilson (eds.) with B. Toft Topics in Chromatic Graph Theory
157 T. Mora Solving Polynomial Equation Systems III: Algebraic Solving
158 T. Mora Solving Polynomial Equation Systems IV: Buchberger Theory and Beyond
159 V. Berthé and M. Rigo (eds.) Combinatorics, Words and Symbolic Dynamics
160. B. Rubin Introduction to Radon Transforms: With Elements of Fractional Calculus and Harmonic Analysis
161 M. Ghergu and S. D. Taliaferro Isolated Singularities in Partial Differential Inequalities
162 G. Molica Bisci, V. D. Radulescu and R. Servadei Variational Methods for Nonlocal Fractional Problems
163 S. Wagon The Banach–Tarski Paradox (Second Edition)
164 K. Broughan Equivalents of the Riemann Hypothesis I: Arithmetic Equivalents
165 K. Broughan Equivalents of the Riemann Hypothesis II: Analytic Equivalents
166 M. Baake and U. Grimm (eds.) Aperiodic Order II: Crystallography and Almost Periodicity
167 M. Cabrera Garcı́a and Á. Rodrı́guez Palacios Non-Associative Normed Algebras II: Representation
Theory and the Zel’manov Approach
168 A. Yu. Khrennikov, S. V. Kozyrev and W. A. Zúñiga-Galindo Ultrametric Pseudodifferential Equations
and Applications
169 S. R. Finch Mathematical Constants II
170 J. Krajı́ček Proof Complexity
171 D. Bulacu, S. Caenepeel, F. Panaite and F. Van Oystaeyen Quasi-Hopf Algebras
E n cyc l o p e d i a o f M at h e m at i c s a n d i t s A p p l i c at i o n s

Quasi-Hopf Algebras
A Categorical Approach

DA N I E L B U L AC U
Universitatea din Bucureşti, Romania

S T E FA A N C A E N E P E E L
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

F L O R I N PA NA I T E
Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy

F R E D DY VA N OY S TA E Y E N
Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108427012
DOI: 10.1017/9781108582780
© Daniel Bulacu, Stefaan Caenepeel, Florin Panaite and Freddy Van Oystaeyen 2019
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Names: Bulacu, Daniel, 1973– author. | Caenepeel, Stefaan, 1956– author. |
Panaite, Florin, 1970– author. | Oystaeyen, F. Van, 1947– author.
Title: Quasi-Hopf algebras : a categorical approach / Daniel Bulacu
(Universitatea din Bucureti, Romania), Stefaan Caenepeel (Vrije
Universiteit, Amsterdam), Florin Panaite (Institute of Mathematics of the
Romanian Academy), Freddy van Oystaeyen (Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium).
Description: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, [2019] |
Series: Encyclopedia of mathematics and its applications ; 171 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018034517 | ISBN 9781108427012 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Hopf algebras. | Tensor products. | Tensor algebra.
Classification: LCC QA613.8 .B85 2019 | DDC 512/.55–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034517
ISBN 978-1-108-42701-2 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
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and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Dedicated to our wives
Adriana, Lieve, Cristina, Danielle.
 Contents

Preface page xi
1 Monoidal and Braided Categories 1
1.1 Monoidal Categories 1
1.2 Examples of Monoidal Categories 7
1.2.1 The Category of Sets 7
1.2.2 The Category of Vector Spaces 7
1.2.3 The Category of Bimodules 7
1.2.4 The Category of G-graded Vector Spaces 8
1.2.5 The Category of Endo-functors 13
1.2.6 A Strict Category Associated to a Monoidal Category 15
1.3 Monoidal Functors 16
1.4 Mac Lane’s Strictification Theorem for Monoidal Categories 25
1.5 (Pre-)Braided Monoidal Categories 28
1.6 Rigid Monoidal Categories 38
1.7 The Left and Right Dual Functors 43
1.8 Braided Rigid Monoidal Categories 48
1.9 Notes 54
2 Algebras and Coalgebras in Monoidal Categories 55
2.1 Algebras in Monoidal Categories 55
2.2 Coalgebras in Monoidal Categories 65
2.3 The Dual Coalgebra/Algebra of an Algebra/Coalgebra 70
2.4 Categories of Representations 78
2.5 Categories of Corepresentations 82
2.6 Braided Bialgebras 87
2.7 Braided Hopf Algebras 95
2.8 Notes 101
3 Quasi-bialgebras and Quasi-Hopf Algebras 103
3.1 Quasi-bialgebras 103
3.2 Quasi-Hopf Algebras 110
3.3 Examples of Quasi-bialgebras and Quasi-Hopf Algebras 119
viii Contents

3.4 The Rigid Monoidal Structure of H M fd and MHfd 125

3.5 The Reconstruction Theorem for Quasi-Hopf Algebras 128
3.6 Sovereign Quasi-Hopf Algebras 131
3.7 Dual Quasi-Hopf Algebras 135
3.8 Further Examples of (Dual) Quasi-Hopf Algebras 141
3.9 Notes 146
4 Module (Co)Algebras and (Bi)Comodule Algebras 147
4.1 Module Algebras over Quasi-bialgebras 147
4.2 Module Coalgebras over Quasi-bialgebras 154
4.3 Comodule Algebras over Quasi-bialgebras 162
4.4 Bicomodule Algebras and Two-sided Coactions 168
4.5 Notes 176
5 Crossed Products 177
5.1 Smash Products 177
5.2 Quasi-smash Products and Generalized Smash Products 185
5.3 Endomorphism H-module Algebras 188
5.4 Two-sided Smash and Crossed Products 191
5.5 H ∗ -Hopf Bimodules 196
5.6 Diagonal Crossed Products 201
5.7 L–R-smash Products 214
5.8 A Duality Theorem for Quasi-Hopf Algebras 220
5.9 Notes 223
6 Quasi-Hopf Bimodule Categories 225
6.1 Quasi-Hopf Bimodules 225
6.2 The Dual of a Quasi-Hopf Bimodule 230
6.3 Structure Theorems for Quasi-Hopf Bimodules 235
6.4 The Categories H MHH and H M 239
6.5 A Structure Theorem for Comodule Algebras 246
6.6 Coalgebras in H MHH 249
6.7 Notes 251
7 Finite-Dimensional Quasi-Hopf Algebras 253
7.1 Frobenius Algebras 253
7.2 Integral Theory 261
7.3 Semisimple Quasi-Hopf Algebras 268
7.4 Symmetric Quasi-Hopf Algebras 273
7.5 Cointegral Theory 279
7.6 Integrals, Cointegrals and the Fourth Power of the Antipode 288
7.7 A Freeness Theorem for Quasi-Hopf Algebras 299
7.8 Notes 303
8 Yetter–Drinfeld Module Categories 305
8.1 The Left and Right Center Constructions 305
 Contents ix

8.2 Yetter–Drinfeld Modules over Quasi-bialgebras 310

H YD
fd
8.3 The Rigid Braided Category H 318
8.4 Yetter–Drinfeld Modules as Modules over an Algebra 325
8.5 The Quantum Double of a Quasi-Hopf Algebra 330
8.6 The Quasi-Hopf Algebras Dω (H) and Dω (G) 335
8.7 Algebras within Categories of Yetter–Drinfeld Modules 342
8.8 Cross Products of Algebras in H M , H MH , H
H YD 347
8.9 Notes 351
9 Two-sided Two-cosided Hopf Modules 353
9.1 Two-sided Two-cosided Hopf Modules 353
9.2 Two-sided Two-cosided Hopf Modules versus
Yetter–Drinfeld Modules 355
H MH and H YD
The Categories H
9.3 H H 360
9.4 A Structure Theorem for Bicomodule Algebras 362
H MH
The Structure of a Coalgebra in H
9.5 H 363
9.6 A Braided Monoidal Structure on H MHH
H 369
Hopf Algebras within HH MH
9.7 H 371
9.8 Biproduct Quasi-Hopf Algebras 376
9.9 Notes 379
10 Quasitriangular Quasi-Hopf Algebras 381
10.1 Quasitriangular Quasi-bialgebras and Quasi-Hopf Algebras 381
10.2 Further Examples of Monoidal Algebras 386
10.3 The Square of the Antipode of a QT Quasi-Hopf Algebra 388
10.4 The QT Structure of the Quantum Double 394
10.5 The Quantum Double D(H) when H is Quasitriangular 400
10.6 Notes 406
11 Factorizable Quasi-Hopf Algebras 407
11.1 Reconstruction in Rigid Monoidal Categories 407
11.2 The Enveloping Braided Group of a QT Quasi-Hopf Algebra 414
11.3 Bosonisation for Quasi-Hopf Algebras 419
11.4 The Function Algebra Braided Group 421
11.5 Factorizable QT Quasi-Hopf Algebras 433
11.6 Factorizable Implies Unimodular 440
11.7 The Quantum Double of a Factorizable Quasi-Hopf Algebra 443
11.8 Notes 450
12 The Quantum Dimension and Involutory Quasi-Hopf Algebras 451
12.1 The Integrals of a Quantum Double 451
12.2 The Cointegrals of a Quantum Double 457
12.3 The Quantum Dimension 462
12.3.1 The Quantum Dimension of H 462
12.3.2 The Quantum Dimension of D(H) 466
12.4 The Trace Formula for Quasi-Hopf Algebras 469
x Contents

12.5 Involutory Quasi-Hopf Algebras 472

12.6 Representations of Involutory Quasi-Hopf Algebras 474
12.7 Notes 479
13 Ribbon Quasi-Hopf Algebras 481
13.1 Ribbon Categories 481
13.2 Ribbon Categories Obtained from Rigid Monoidal Categories 488
13.3 Ribbon Quasi-Hopf Algebras 496
13.4 A Class of Ribbon Quasi-Hopf Algebras 505
13.5 Some Ribbon Elements for Dω (H) and Dω (G) 508
13.6 Notes 512

Bibliography 515
Index 525
 Preface

Some basic ideas in mathematics are very generic and almost omnipresent. Let us
just mention “operators on some structure,” an idea going back to symmetry of ge-
ometric configurations, and also “duality.” These ideas are also at the roots of the
modern theory of quasi-Hopf algebras, which is the topic of this book.
Geometry is at the root of many developments in mathematics, and for our topic
of interest we may go back to algebraic geometry and the theory of (affine) algebraic
varieties, which may be seen as sets of solutions of polynomial equations in some
affine space over some field. One then studies such varieties via the ring of functions
on them with values in the base field; in fact one restricts attention to polynomial
functions forming the coordinate ring of the variety. There one observes the funda-
mental duality between commutative (affine) algebra and the algebraic geometry of
(affine) algebraic varieties, later better phrased in the more general scheme theory.
The other generic idea of operators acting on geometric structures led directly to
actions or transformation groups and operator algebras. The idea of group actions
and their invariants is deeply embedded in the philosophy of mathematics; for ex-
ample, in the “Erlangen Program” of F. Klein, geometry was redefined as the study
of properties invariant for actions of transformation groups. On the more algebraic
side, actions of groups of automorphisms of fields were used by E. Galois to solve
some problems about solutions to polynomial equations over a field. In the resulting
Galois theory another duality appeared, namely the duality between subgroups of
the Galois group of some field extension and the lattice of subfields of the field. This
Galois duality originally was considered for finite-dimensional separable field exten-
sions but it was extended to inseparable extensions by using derivations and higher
derivations, leading to Lie algebra actions and their invariants. Thus, a more general
Galois theory mixing Lie actions (of derivations) and group actions (of automor-
phisms) resulted, immediately leading to a Galois theory for Hopf algebra actions.
Further extensions of the Galois theory were in the direction of continuous groups,
later called Lie groups. So here the generic ideas of action and duality met, and Hopf
algebras appeared naturally. But also the geometric line of development showed a
similar phenomenon with the study of abelian varieties and algebraic groups. Roughly
stated, an algebraic group is an algebraic variety with a group structure on its points;
xii Preface

interesting examples are matrix groups, that is, groups embedded in a matrix ring
and having the structure of an algebraic variety, like GLn (k) and SLn (k), the general
and special linear groups over the field k, respectively. The group structure on the va-
riety translates into a structure of the coordinate ring given by a comultiplication, a
counit and an antipode satisfying suitable conditions that turn it into a commutative
Hopf algebra. Hopf algebras got their name because they appeared first in a cele-
brated paper by H. Hopf on algebraic topology. In fact the structure was discovered
on the cohomology ring of an H-space; roughly stated, that is a topological space
with a multiplication on it together with a special element such that left and right
multiplication by this element defines a map which is homotopic to the identity map
(so a kind of neutral element up to homotopy).
Group actions on vector spaces may be studied by looking at modules over the
group algebra k[G] of the acting group G over the base field k; similarly, Lie algebra
actions of a Lie algebra g on a vector space may be studied by looking at the uni-
versal enveloping algebra of g over k, say Uk (g). Now both k[G] and Uk (g) are Hopf
algebras but not commutative anymore; instead, they are cocommutative. So aspects
of group actions and Lie algebra actions become unified in a theory of actions of
arbitrary Hopf algebras on general algebras or vector spaces or modules, and this
received extensive interest in ring theory.
Let us point out one important “generality” for general Hopf algebras: they need
not be commutative or cocommutative, as many of the early examples of Hopf alge-
bras were. In his famous address to the International Congress of Mathematicians in
1986, Drinfeld introduced the term “quantum group,” roughly referring to a quasitri-
angular Hopf algebra, that is, a Hopf algebra endowed with a so-called R-matrix, sat-
isfying certain axioms that represent a relaxation of the cocommutativity condition
and implying the (equally famous) quantum Yang–Baxter equation. Drinfeld proved
that any finite-dimensional Hopf algebra can be embedded in a quasitriangular one,
called its quantum (or Drinfeld) double. There is a vast literature on quantum groups
and many examples could be obtained from deforming well-known easier Hopf al-
gebras. Combined with the restriction to special Hopf algebras it also makes sense
to restrict to special categories of modules like so-called Yetter–Drinfeld modules,
to name just one.
Essential for the transition from Hopf algebras to quasi-Hopf algebras was the
concept of monoidal category, roughly stated a category with a product (called the
“tensor product”) generalizing the tensor product of vector spaces in a suitable way
and satisfying natural conditions. For example, the category of sets is a monoidal
category, the “tensor product” being the Cartesian product of sets. One of the ax-
ioms of a monoidal category is the so-called “associativity constraint,” which for the
categories of vector spaces and of sets is “trivial;” for instance, for vector spaces
this boils down to saying that, if U, V , W are vector spaces, then (U ⊗ V ) ⊗ W and
U ⊗ (V ⊗W ) can be identified in the usual (or “trivial”) way.
One of the fundamental features of a Hopf algebra, H, is that its category of
(left) representations is a monoidal category, with tensor product inherited from the
 Preface xiii

category of vector spaces, and the tensor product of two left H-modules is again a
left H-module via the comultiplication of H. The associativity constraint is, again,
“trivial.”
If one is not interested in an a priori given type of algebra but wants to make sure
that there is a “product” on the category of its representations, then one finds the
motivation for the introduction of quasi-Hopf algebras as Drinfeld did in his seminal
paper [80]. Roughly, a quasi-Hopf algebra is an algebra for which its category of
left modules is monoidal, but maybe with non-trivial associativity constraint. More
precisely, what Drinfeld did was to weaken the coassociativity condition for a Hopf
algebra so that the comultiplication is only coassociative up to conjugation by an
invertible element of H ⊗ H ⊗ H (which is a sort of 3-cocycle). Moreover, examples
of quasi-Hopf algebras can be obtained by “twisting” the comultiplication of a Hopf
algebra via a so-called “gauge transformation” (only if the gauge transformation is a
sort of 2-cocycle is the twisted object again a Hopf algebra). After specialization to
quantum groups, sometimes just taken to be non-commutative non-cocommutative
Hopf algebras but usually with extra conditions like quasitriangularity, the general-
ization in terms of non-coassociativity became popular too and it found several appli-
cations as well. Again, the fundamental property is that the relaxation of coassocia-
tivity still makes the representation category into a monoidal category, and moreover
the rigidity (i.e. the existence of dual objects) of the category of finite-dimensional
representations of a Hopf algebra, owing to the presence of an antipode, is preserved
by replacing the notion of an antipode by a suitable analogue. Categorically speak-
ing, passing from the category of Hopf algebras to the one of quasi-Hopf algebras
does not (in principle) really add to the complexity; in fact the latter is in some sense
more manageable because of the presence of a kind of gauge group.
Monoidal categories were present, if hidden, in the classical ideas mentioned be-
fore and they have been very useful in obtaining a unified theory. One of the early
facts that stimulated interest in monoidal categories stemmed from their applicabil-
ity in rational conformal field theory (RCFT). The monoidal categories in RCFT
could, by Tannaka–Krein reconstruction, be considered as module categories over
some “Hopf-like” algebras. Back in 1984 Drinfeld and Jimbo introduced a quantum
group by deforming a universal enveloping algebra U(g) for some Lie algebra g; in
fact for every semisimple Lie algebra they constructed what was called afterwards
the Drinfeld–Jimbo algebra. For the study of some categories of modules over the
Drinfeld–Jimbo algebras, a relation with the so-called KZ-equations had to be used;
these equations were introduced by Knizhnik and Zamolodchikov in 1984. The KZ-
equations are linear differential equations satisfied by two-dimensional conformal
field theories associated with affine Lie algebras. Such KZ-equations may be used
to obtain a quantization of universal enveloping algebras, and Drinfeld used KZ-
equations to construct a quasi-Hopf algebra for some Lie algebra g, say Qg , so that
some categories of modules over Qg are equivalent to similar ones over the Drinfeld–
Jimbo algebra of the Lie algebra g. Further interesting applications of KZ-equations
follow, for example, from the fact that their monodromy along closed paths yields
xiv Preface

a representation of the braid group. We refer to the specialized literature for more
detail concerning applications in physics. We do the same for some deep relations
with number theory in the sense of A. Grothendieck’s “Esquisse.”
In this book we aim to develop the theory of quasi-Hopf algebras from scratch,
or almost, dealing mainly with algebraic methods. Knowledge of Hopf algebras will
benefit the reader but we do introduce the necessary concepts. Using monoidal cate-
gories as the main tool makes for a rather abstract treatment of the material, but we
hope the unifying effect of it will expose well the beautiful generalization from Hopf
algebras to quasi-Hopf algebras; moreover, the categorical point of view also stays
close to the applications in physics, as indicated by the foregoing remarks.
We now outline the content of the book (more historical and bibliographical re-
marks can be found in the Notes section at the end of each chapter).
In Chapters 1 and 2 we present the basic categorical concepts and tools needed for
the rest of the book (monoidal, rigid and braided categories and algebras, coalgebras
and Hopf algebras in such categories). We included detailed definitions and proofs;
we do not assume that the reader has prior knowledge of these topics. In particular,
we introduce the concepts of coalgebra, bialgebra and Hopf algebra in the usual sense
(over a field), so we do not assume from the reader a knowledge of these concepts
either.
In Chapter 3 we introduce the main objects of our study, quasi-bialgebras and
quasi-Hopf algebras (as well as the dual concepts), present their basic properties and
some classes of examples. We have two warnings for the reader: (1) the concept of
quasi-bialgebra is introduced in Definition 3.4, but afterwards we make a reduction,
and the axioms of a quasi-bialgebra that will be used from there on are the ones
presented in equations (3.1.7)–(3.1.10); (2) unlike Drinfeld, we do not include the
bijectivity of the antipode in the definition of a quasi-Hopf algebra, and we shall see
in later chapters that the bijectivity is automatic in the finite-dimensional and the
quasitriangular case.
In Chapter 4 we study “(co)actions” of quasi-bialgebras and quasi-Hopf algebras,
namely we introduce the concepts of module (co)algebra and (bi)comodule algebra
over a quasi-bialgebra, we give some examples and present some connections that
exist between these structures.
In Chapter 5 we introduce various types of crossed products that appear in the
context of quasi-Hopf algebras (smash products, diagonal crossed products, etc.), we
study the relations between them and as an application we present a duality theorem
for finite-dimensional quasi-Hopf algebras.
In Chapter 6 we introduce so-called quasi-Hopf bimodules over a quasi-Hopf alge-
bra H, prove some structure theorems for them leading to the fact that their category
is monoidally equivalent to the category of left H-modules and, as an application,
we prove a structure theorem for quasi-Hopf comodule algebras.
In Chapter 7 we study finite-dimensional quasi-Hopf algebras, more precisely in-
tegrals and cointegrals for them. We use the machinery provided by Frobenius al-
gebras, and we present some basic results about Frobenius, symmetric and Frobe-
 Preface xv

nius augmented algebras (so again we do not assume from the reader a knowledge
of these topics). A consequence of the theory we develop is that the antipode of a
finite-dimensional quasi-Hopf algebra is bijective. We end the chapter with a section
containing a freeness result for quasi-Hopf algebras (for that section the reader is
assumed to have some knowledge of module theory).
In Chapter 8 we introduce the four categories of Yetter–Drinfeld modules over a
quasi-Hopf algebra, prove that they are all braided isomorphic and, when restricted to
finite-dimensional objects, rigid. Then we introduce the quantum double of a finite-
dimensional quasi-Hopf algebra (for the moment, only as a quasi-Hopf algebra),
and two particular cases, objects denoted by Dω (H) and Dω (G) (for the latter, G
is a finite group and Dω (G) is called the twisted quantum double of G). We end the
chapter with some properties and examples of algebras in Yetter–Drinfeld categories.
In Chapter 9 we define so-called two-sided two-cosided Hopf modules over a
quasi-Hopf algebra, prove that their category is monoidally equivalent to a category
of Yetter–Drinfeld modules and use this equivalence to prove some structure theo-
rems for bicomodule algebras and bimodule coalgebras. We characterize Hopf al-
gebras within the category of two-sided two-cosided Hopf modules and use this to
define biproduct quasi-Hopf algebras.
In Chapter 10 we study quasitriangular quasi-Hopf algebras, QT for short. We
show that the antipode of a QT quasi-Hopf algebra is inner, hence bijective. We prove
that the quantum double of a finite-dimensional quasi-Hopf algebra is a QT quasi-
Hopf algebra and we characterize the quantum double of a QT finite-dimensional
quasi-Hopf algebra as a certain biproduct quasi-Hopf algebra.
In Chapter 11 we introduce the concept of factorizable quasi-Hopf algebra, prove
that the quantum double of a finite-dimensional quasi-Hopf algebra is factorizable,
and describe the quantum double of a factorizable quasi-Hopf algebra. We prove
also that any factorizable quasi-Hopf algebra is unimodular (i.e. the spaces of left
and right integrals coincide).
In Chapter 12 we describe the integrals of a quantum double of a finite-dimensional
quasi-Hopf algebra (reproving that it is unimodular). We define the quantum dimen-
sion of an object in a braided rigid category, apply this to the category of finite-
dimensional modules over a quasi-Hopf algebra and compute the quantum dimen-
sion of a finite-dimensional quasi-Hopf algebra H and of its quantum double D(H)
regarded as left D(H)-modules. We present a trace formula for quasi-Hopf algebras,
and then we introduce the concept of involutory quasi-Hopf algebra.
In Chapter 13 we introduce the concepts of balanced and ribbon categories, lead-
ing to the concept of ribbon quasi-Hopf algebra, which is a QT quasi-Hopf algebra
endowed with an element (called ribbon element) satisfying some axioms. In the final
two sections, we present two classes of examples of ribbon quasi-Hopf algebras.
We have tried to make this book as self-contained as possible, providing as many
details (in definitions and proofs) as we could. Owing to lack of space, we had to
leave aside some other topics on quasi-Hopf algebras that would have deserved to be
presented here (we intentionally left aside Drinfeld’s theory of quantum enveloping
xvi Preface

algebras, because this is very well presented in C. Kassel’s book [127]). In order to
help the reader to get an idea of what else can be said about quasi-Hopf algebras, we
have included in the bibliography a number of papers on (or related to) quasi-Hopf
algebras that we did not cite or use in the book. We have also included some papers
or books about Hopf algebras or category theory or other topics that we considered
relevant for us or for the subject of the book.
This book is an outcome of the long-term scientific cooperation between the Non-
commutative Algebra groups from Antwerp, Brussels and Bucharest. We whole-
heartedly thank our colleagues from the University of Antwerp, the University of
Brusssels, the University of Bucharest and the Institute of Mathematics of the
Romanian Academy for the scientific discussions we had with them over the years.
Finally, the authors would like to thank Paul Taylor and Bodo Pareigis for sharing
their “diagrams” programs, which were intensively used in this book.
 1
Monoidal and Braided Categories

In this chapter we introduce the basic categorical language that will be used throughout this
book. We define the concepts of monoidal and braided monoidal category and prove that any
monoidal category is monoidally equivalent to a strict one.

1.1 Monoidal Categories

Recall that a category C consists of the following:
• a collection Ob(C ), whose elements are called the objects of C ; if X is an object
of C , we write either X ∈ Ob(C ) or simply X ∈ C ;
• for every two objects X,Y ∈ Ob(C ), a set HomC (X,Y ), whose elements are de-
noted by f : X → Y and called the morphisms from X to Y in C ;
• for every object X of C , a specified morphism IdX ∈ HomC (X, X), called the
identity morphism of X;
• for every three objects X,Y, Z of C , a function
◦ : HomC (X,Y ) × HomC (Y, Z) → HomC (X, Z),
called the composition function, that maps a pair ( f , g) to ◦( f , g) := g ◦ f , where
f : X → Y and g : Y → Z are morphisms in C .
These data are subject to the following axioms:
(A) Associativity axiom: for all morphisms f : X → Y , g : Y → Z and h : Z → T in
C we have (h ◦ g) ◦ f = h ◦ (g ◦ f ).
(I) Identity axiom: f ◦ IdX = f = IdY ◦ f , for every morphism f : X → Y in C .
f
A morphism f : X → Y in C will also be denoted by X → Y . Note that, when
there is no danger of confusion, the composition of two morphisms f : X → Y and
g : Y → Z in C will often be written as g f instead of g ◦ f .
A morphism f : X → Y in C is called an isomorphism if there exists a morphism
g : Y → X in C , called the inverse of f , such that g ◦ f = IdX and f ◦ g = IdY . Note
that the inverse is unique.
2 Monoidal and Braided Categories

If X ∈ Ob(C ), we denote EndC (X) := HomC (X, X).

A subcategory D of a category C is a collection of some objects and some mor-
phisms of C in such a way that D becomes a category with composition and identi-
ties from C . Furthermore, we say that D is a full subcategory when HomD (X,Y ) =
HomC (X,Y ), for all X,Y ∈ Ob(D).
Recall also that a functor F between two categories C and D consists of:

• a map Ob(F) : Ob(C ) → Ob(D); we will denote Ob(F)(X) = F(X), for all X ∈
Ob(C );
• a function

HomF (X,Y ) : HomC (X,Y ) → HomD (F(X), F(Y ))

for any objects X,Y of C ; we will denote HomF (X,Y )( f ) = F( f ), for any mor-
phism f : X → Y in C .

These data are subject to the following axioms:

(A1) Identities are preserved by F, that is, F(IdX ) = IdF(X) , for all X ∈ C .
(A2) Composition is preserved by F, i.e. F(g ◦ f ) = F(g) ◦ F( f ), for any mor-
phisms f : X → Y and g : Y → Z in C .
If F : C → D and G : D → E are two functors then the pointwise composition
defines a functor from C to E . It will be denoted by G ◦ F, or simply GF when there
is no danger of confusion.
If C is a category, there exists a functor IdC : C → C , called the identity functor
on C , which is the identity on both objects and morphisms in C .
A functor F : C → D is called an isomorphism if there exists a functor G : D → C
such that FG = IdD and GF = IdC . Such a functor G, if it exists, is unique and is
called the inverse of F. Two categories are isomorphic if there exists an isomorphism
between them.
If F : C → D is a functor, we call the full image of F (denoted Im(F)) the full
subcategory of D whose objects are (F(X))X∈Ob(C ) .
A natural transformation μ between two functors F, G : C → D consists of a fam-
ily of morphisms in D, μ = (μX : F(X) → G(X))X∈Ob(C ) , having the property that
G( f ) ◦ μX = μY ◦ F( f ), for any morphism f : X → Y in C . If, moreover, μX is an iso-
morphism in D, for all X ∈ Ob(C ), then μ is called a natural isomorphism between
F and G.
Finally, if C , D are categories then C × D is the category whose

• objects are pairs (X,Y ), where X is an object of C and Y is an object of D;

• morphisms between (X,Y ) and (X  ,Y  ) are pairs ( f , g) consisting of a morphism
f : X → X  in C and a morphism g : Y → Y  in D.

The identity morphisms and the composition functions in C × D are canonically

defined in terms of those of C and D. The new category C × D is called the product
of C and D.
 1.1 Monoidal Categories 3

We can now introduce the concept of monoidal category, which is roughly a cat-
egory C endowed with an associative “tensor product” ⊗ : C × C → C , with a unit
object 1 and coherence. Rigorously, we have the following:
Definition 1.1 A monoidal category consists of a category C endowed with a func-
tor ⊗ : C × C → C (called the tensor product), a distinguished object 1 ∈ C (called
the unit object of C ) and natural isomorphisms (X,Y, Z are arbitrary objects of C )
aX,Y,Z : (X ⊗Y ) ⊗ Z → X ⊗ (Y ⊗ Z) (the associativity constraint),
lX : 1 ⊗ X → X (the left unit constraint),
rX : X ⊗ 1 → X (the right unit constraint),
satisfying the so-called Pentagon Axiom and Triangle Axiom, namely for any ob-
jects X,Y, Z, T ∈ C the following diagrams are commutative:
aX⊗Y,Z,T aX,Y,Z⊗T
((X ⊗Y ) ⊗ Z) ⊗ T (X ⊗Y ) ⊗ (Z ⊗ T ) X ⊗ (Y ⊗ (Z ⊗ T )) (1.1.1)
aX,Y,Z ⊗IdT IdX ⊗aY,Z,T

(X ⊗ (Y ⊗ Z)) ⊗ T aX,Y ⊗Z,T

X ⊗ ((Y ⊗ Z) ⊗ T ),

aX,1,Y
(X ⊗ 1) ⊗Y X ⊗ (1 ⊗Y ) (1.1.2)

rX ⊗IdY IdX ⊗lY

X ⊗Y .
The monoidal category (C , ⊗, 1, a, l, r) is called strict if all the natural isomor-
phisms a, l and r are defined by identity morphisms in C .

f g f g
Remark 1.2 Let X → Y → Z and X  → Y  → Z  be morphisms in C . The fact that
⊗ : C × C → C is a functor implies the following equality:
(g ◦ f ) ⊗ (g ◦ f  ) = (g ⊗ g ) ◦ ( f ⊗ f  ) : X ⊗ X  → Z ⊗ Z  .
Also, for all objects X,Y of C we have IdX⊗Y = IdX ⊗ IdY .
If C is a monoidal category and X,Y, Z, T are objects of C , there are two different
ways to go from ((X ⊗ Y ) ⊗ Z) ⊗ T to X ⊗ (Y ⊗ (Z ⊗ T )). The Pentagon Axiom
says that these two ways coincide. Then it is automatic that all the other consistency
problems of this type are solved as well; see Remark 1.35 below.
Proposition 1.3 Let (C , ⊗, 1, a, l, r) be a monoidal category and consider the switch
functor τ : C × C → C × C , defined by τ (X,Y ) = (Y, X), for any X,Y ∈ C , and
f g
τ ( f , g) = (g, f ), for any morphisms X → X  and Y → Y  in C . Then
C := (C , ⊗ := ⊗ ◦ τ , a, 1, l := r, r := l)
is a monoidal category, where aX,Y,Z := a−1
Z,Y,X , for all X,Y, Z ∈ C .
In what follows C will be called the reverse monoidal category associated to C .
4 Monoidal and Braided Categories

Proof All the axioms for C to be a monoidal category follow from those of C and
f g
the fact that (g ◦ f )−1 = f −1 ◦ g−1 , for any isomorphisms X → Y → Z in C . For
example, the Pentagon Axiom for C reduces to the commutativity of the diagram
a−1
T,Z,Y ⊗X a−1
T ⊗Z,Y,X
T ⊗ (Z ⊗ (Y ⊗ X)) (T ⊗ Z) ⊗ (Y ⊗ X) ((T ⊗ Z) ⊗Y ) ⊗ X
IdT ⊗a−1
Z,Y,X a−1
T,Z,Y ⊗IdX

T ⊗ ((Z ⊗Y ) ⊗ X) (T ⊗ (Z ⊗Y )) ⊗ X,
a−1
T,Z⊗Y,X

which holds because of (1.1.1). Similarly, for a as above, l = r and r = l, the Triangle
Axiom is satisfied because of (1.1.2).
Remark 1.4 Apart from C , to a monoidal category C we can associate a new
one that will be denoted by C opp and called the opposite category associated to C .
As a category, C opp has the same objects as C and HomC opp (X,Y ) = HomC (Y, X),
for any objects X,Y of C . If f ∈ HomC opp (X,Y ) and g ∈ HomC opp (Y, Z) then the
composition ◦opp between g and f in C opp is g ◦opp f = f ◦ g, the latest composition
being in C .
If C is monoidal then so is C opp , with the monoidal structure induced by that of
C , namely C opp = (C opp , ⊗, 1, a−1 , l −1 , r−1 ).
The Triangle Axiom in Definition 1.1 gives the compatibility between the left and
right unit constraints. There also exist other compatibilities of this type:
Proposition 1.5 Let (C , ⊗, 1, a, l, r) be a monoidal category. Then the diagrams
aX,Y,1
(X ⊗Y ) ⊗ 1 X ⊗ (Y ⊗ 1)

rX⊗Y IdX ⊗rY

X ⊗Y
and
a1,X,Y
(1 ⊗ X) ⊗Y 1 ⊗ (X ⊗Y )
lX⊗Y
lX ⊗IdY
X ⊗Y
are commutative, for any objects X,Y ∈ C . Moreover, we have that l1 = r1 .
Proof Since a is natural, the following diagrams are commutative:
aX,Y ⊗1,T
(X ⊗ (Y ⊗ 1)) ⊗ T X ⊗ ((Y ⊗ 1) ⊗ T ) (1.1.3)
(IdX ⊗rY )⊗IdT IdX ⊗(rY ⊗IdT )
aX,Y,T
(X ⊗Y ) ⊗ T X ⊗ (Y ⊗ T ),
 1.1 Monoidal Categories 5
aX,Y,1⊗T
(X ⊗Y ) ⊗ (1 ⊗ T ) X ⊗ (Y ⊗ (1 ⊗ T )) (1.1.4)
IdX⊗Y ⊗lT IdX ⊗(IdY ⊗lT )
aX,Y,T
(X ⊗Y ) ⊗ T X ⊗ (Y ⊗ T ),

for all X,Y, T ∈ C . Then we have:

aX,Y,T ((IdX ⊗ rY ) ⊗ IdT )(aX,Y,1 ⊗ IdT )

(1.1.3)
= (IdX ⊗ (rY ⊗ IdT ))aX,Y ⊗1,T (aX,Y,1 ⊗ IdT )
(1.1.2)
= (IdX ⊗ (IdY ⊗ lT ))(IdX ⊗ aY,1,T )aX,Y ⊗1,T (aX,Y,1 ⊗ IdT )
(1.1.1)
= (IdX ⊗ (IdY ⊗ lT ))aX,Y,1⊗T aX⊗Y,1,T
(1.1.4)
= aX,Y,T (IdX⊗Y ⊗ lT )aX⊗Y,1,T
(1.1.2)
= aX,Y,T (rX⊗Y ⊗ IdT ).

Using that aX,Y,T is an isomorphism we get, for all X,Y, T ∈ C ,

(IdX ⊗ rY )aX,Y,1 ⊗ IdT = rX⊗Y ⊗ IdT . (1.1.5)

Now, by the naturality of r the diagrams

r(X⊗Y )⊗1
((X ⊗Y ) ⊗ 1) ⊗ 1 (X ⊗Y ) ⊗ 1

(IdX ⊗rY )aX,Y,1 ⊗Id1 rX⊗Y ⊗Id1 (IdX ⊗rY )aX,Y,1 rX⊗Y

(X ⊗Y ) ⊗ 1 rX⊗Y
X ⊗Y

are commutative, so by (1.1.5) (with T = 1) we obtain that

(IdX ⊗ rY )aX,Y,1 r(X⊗Y )⊗1 = rX⊗Y r(X⊗Y )⊗1 ,

and therefore the first triangle in the proposition is commutative because r(X⊗Y )⊗1 is
an isomorphism.
If we express the commutativity of the first triangle for C , the reverse monoidal
category associated to C as in Proposition 1.3, we obtain the commutativity of the
second triangle in the proposition.
So it remains to prove l1 = r1 . For this, note that the naturality of r implies that
rX⊗1
(X ⊗ 1) ⊗ 1 X ⊗1
rX ⊗Id1 rX

X ⊗1 rX
X

is commutative, for any X ∈ C . Since rX is an isomorphism we deduce that

rX⊗1 = rX ⊗ Id1 . (1.1.6)

6 Monoidal and Braided Categories

Note that, by applying equation (1.1.6) in C , we obtain in C the relation

l1⊗X = Id1 ⊗ lX . (1.1.7)

Now, by (1.1.2) we have r1⊗1 = r1 ⊗ Id1 = (Id1 ⊗ l1 )a1,1,1 , and by the commuta-
tivity of the first triangle in the proposition we get r1⊗1 = (Id1 ⊗ r1 )a1,1,1 . Since a1,1,1
is an isomorphism we obtain Id1 ⊗ l1 = Id1 ⊗ r1 .
By the naturality of l the diagrams

l1⊗1
1 ⊗ (1 ⊗ 1) 1⊗1
Id1 ⊗l1 Id1 ⊗r1 l1 r1

1⊗1 1
l1

are commutative. Using that l1⊗1 is an isomorphism and Id1 ⊗ l1 = Id1 ⊗ r1 we get
l1 = r1 , and this finishes the proof.

Proposition 1.6 Let 1 be the unit object of a monoidal category C . Then EndC (1)
is a commutative monoid, and if we identify 1 ⊗ 1 with 1 via l1 = r1 then the tensor
product of two morphisms in EndC (1) coincides with their composition.

Proof It can be easily checked that the composition endows EndC (1) with a monoid
structure, the unit element being Id1 . Thus, we only need to show that

f ⊗ g = r1−1 ◦ ( f ◦ g) ◦ r1 = r1−1 ◦ (g ◦ f ) ◦ r1 ,

for all f , g ∈ EndC (1). To this end, note that the naturality of l and r imply the
commutativity of the following diagrams:

l1 r1
1⊗1 1 and 1⊗1 1
Id1 ⊗g g f ⊗Id1 f
l1 r1
1⊗1 1 1⊗1 1.

Now, since l1 and r1 are isomorphisms we obtain Id1 ⊗ g = l1−1 ◦ g ◦ l1 and f ⊗ Id1 =
r1−1 ◦ f ◦ r1 . Since l1 = r1 it follows that

f ⊗ g = ( f ⊗ Id1 ) ◦ (Id1 ⊗ g) = r1−1 ◦ ( f ◦ g) ◦ r1 ,

f ⊗ g = (Id1 ⊗ g) ◦ ( f ⊗ Id1 ) = r1−1 ◦ (g ◦ f ) ◦ r1 .

Thus, we proved the equalities f ⊗ g = r1−1 ◦ ( f ◦ g) ◦ r1 = r1−1 ◦ (g ◦ f ) ◦ r1 . Note that

by interchanging f and g in the above relation we also obtain f ⊗ g = g ⊗ f , for all
f , g ∈ EndC (1).
 1.2 Examples of Monoidal Categories 7

1.2 Examples of Monoidal Categories

1.2.1 The Category of Sets
We denote the category of sets by Set, and by {∗} a fixed singleton, that is, a fixed
set with one element. Furthermore, by × we denote the direct product of sets, that
is, for any sets X and Y , X × Y is the set of ordered pairs (x, y) with x ∈ X and
f f
y ∈ Y , and by f × f  the direct product of two functions X → Y and X  → Y  , that is,
f × f  : X × X  → Y ×Y  is defined by f × f  (x, x ) = ( f (x), f  (x )), for all x ∈ X and
x ∈ X  . If follows that × defines a functor from Set × Set to Set.
For any sets X,Y and Z, we have canonical isomorphisms, defined for all x ∈ X,
y ∈ Y and z ∈ Z, by

aX,Y,Z : (X ×Y ) × Z → X × (Y × Z), aX,Y,Z ((x, y), z) = (x, (y, z)),

lX : {∗} × X → X, lX (∗, x) = x,
rX : X × {∗} → X, rX (x, ∗) = x.

The proof of the next result is straightforward, so it is left to the reader.

Proposition 1.7 With notation as above, (Set, ×, {∗}, a, l, r) is a monoidal category.

1.2.2 The Category of Vector Spaces

One of the most important examples of a monoidal category for what follows is the
category k M of vector spaces over a base field k. The tensor product in k M is the
usual tensor product of vector spaces, the unit object 1 is the field k itself, and the
associativity and unit constraints are the natural isomorphisms (for all X,Y, Z ∈ k M )

aX,Y,Z : (X ⊗Y ) ⊗ Z → X ⊗ (Y ⊗ Z), aX,Y,Z ((x ⊗ y) ⊗ z) = x ⊗ (y ⊗ z),

lX : k ⊗ X → X, lX (λ ⊗ x) = λ x,
rX : X ⊗ k → X, rX (x ⊗ λ ) = λ x,

for all λ ∈ k, x ∈ X, y ∈ Y and z ∈ Z. The above statement remains valid if we consider

k a commutative ring and take k M equal to the category of modules over k.

1.2.3 The Category of Bimodules

We present now the noncommutative version of Subsection 1.2.2.
Let k be a field (or, more generally, a commutative ring) and R a k-algebra. Denote
by R MR the category of R-bimodules and R-bimodule maps. Then R MR is monoidal
with the following structure:

• The tensor product functor is ⊗R : R MR × R MR → R MR defined as follows. On

objects, we have ⊗R (M, N) := M ⊗R N, the tensor product over R between M and
N. It becomes an R-bimodule in the canonical way: r · (m ⊗R n) · r = rm ⊗R nr ,
8 Monoidal and Braided Categories

for all r, r ∈ R, m ∈ M and n ∈ N. If f : M → N, g : P → Q are morphisms in R MR

then the map ( f ⊗R g)(m ⊗R p) = f (m) ⊗R g(p), for all m ∈ M and p ∈ P, is a
morphism in R MR .
• The unit is R, considered as an R-bimodule via its multiplication.
• The associativity and unit constraints are defined as follows:
aX,Y,Z : (X ⊗R Y ) ⊗R Z → X ⊗R (Y ⊗R Z), aX,Y,Z ((x ⊗R y) ⊗R z) = x ⊗R (y ⊗R z),
lX : R ⊗R X → X, lX (r ⊗R x) = rx,
rX : X ⊗R R → X, rX (x ⊗R r) = xr,
for all r ∈ R, x ∈ X, y ∈ Y and z ∈ Z.
We leave it to the reader to check that this defines a monoidal structure on R MR .
Note that if R = k then R MR coincides with k M as a monoidal category.

1.2.4 The Category of G-graded Vector Spaces

Throughout this subsection G is a group written multiplicatively and with neutral
element e, k is a field and k∗ = k\{0}.
Definition 1.8 A G-graded vector space over k is a k-vector space V which decom-

poses into a direct sum of the form V = g∈G Vg , where each Vg is a k-vector space.
For a given g ∈ G the elements of Vg are called homogeneous elements of degree g.
If v ∈ V is a homogeneous element then we denote the degree of v by | v |∈ G.

Let W = g∈G Wg be another G-graded vector space. Then a k-linear map f :
V → W is called a G-graded morphism if it preserves the degree of homogeneous
elements, that is, f (Vg ) ⊆ Wg , for all g ∈ G.
VectG denotes the category of G-graded vector spaces and G-graded morphisms.
 
If V = g∈G Vg and W = g∈G Wg are G-graded vector spaces then V ⊗W is also
a G-graded vector space with the grading defined by

(V ⊗W )g := Vσ ⊗Wτ , (1.2.1)
σ τ =g

for all g ∈ G. Indeed, it is an elementary fact that in k M the tensor product commutes
with arbitrary direct sums. Hence
    ⎛ ⎞
    
(V ⊗W )g = Vσ ⊗Wτ = Vg ⊗ ⎝ Wg ⎠ = V ⊗W,
g∈G g∈G σ τ =g g∈G g ∈G

as required. Furthermore, if f : V → V  and g : W → W  are morphisms in VectG then

f ⊗ g becomes a morphism in VectG . Thus, the tensor product ⊗ of the category of
k-vector spaces induces a tensor product on VectG .
Also, k can be viewed as a G-graded vector space via the trivial grading, that is,
ke = k and kg = 0, for all G g = e. In this way the left and right unit constraints l
and r of k M become graded morphisms, that is, morphisms in VectG .
 1.2 Examples of Monoidal Categories 9

Our next aim is to describe the monoidal structures of VectG , somehow induced
by the monoidal structure of k M . To this end we first need some group cohomol-
ogy, with a particular emphasis on the third cohomology group of a group G with
coefficients in k∗ , the group of units of a field k, viewed trivially as a Z[G]-module.
Here Z is the ring of integers and Z[G] is the group algebra associated to G over
the commutative ring Z. More generally, for G a (multiplicative) group with neutral
element e and R a commutative ring we denote by R[G] the free R-module with basis
{g | g ∈ G}, so any element of R[G] has the form ∑g∈G αg g with (αg )g∈G a family
of elements of R having only a finite number of non-zero elements. Then R[G] with
multiplication defined by (αh h)(βg g) = αh βg hg, extended by linearity, and unit e, is
called the group algebra associated to G over R. It is easy to see that R[G] is a unital
associative R-algebra, and that R[G] is a G-graded vector space with grading defined
by R[G]g = Rg, for all g ∈ G.
Coming back to the survey on group cohomology, let K n (G, k∗ ) be the set of maps
from Gn to k∗ . Then one can easily see that K n (G, k∗ ) is a group under pointwise
multiplication. There exist maps Δn : K n (G, k∗ ) → K n+1 (G, k∗ ), which for n ∈ {2, 3}
are given by the formulas

Δ2 (g)(x, y, z) = g(y, z)g(xy, z)−1 g(x, yz)g(x, y)−1 ,

Δ3 ( f )(x, y, z,t) = f (y, z,t) f (xy, z,t)−1 f (x, yz,t) f (x, y, zt)−1 f (x, y, z).

It is known that Bn (G, k∗ ) := ImΔn−1 ⊆ Z n (G, k∗ ) := Ker(Δn ). The nth cohomology

group is defined as H n (G, k∗ ) = Z n (G, k∗ )/Bn (G, k∗ ), and two elements of H n (G, k∗ )
are called cohomologous if they lie in the same equivalence class.
The elements of Z 3 (G, k∗ ) are called 3-cocycles, and the elements of B3 (G, k∗ ) are
called 3-coboundaries. We have the following.

Definition 1.9 A 3-cocycle on G with coefficients in k∗ is a map φ : G×G×G → k∗

such that
φ (y, z,t)φ (x, yz,t)φ (x, y, z) = φ (x, y, zt)φ (xy, z,t), (1.2.2)

for all x, y, z,t ∈ G. A 3-cocycle φ is called normalized if φ (x, e, y) = 1, for all x, y ∈ G.

Remarks 1.10 (1) If φ is a normalized 3-cocycle, then φ (e, y, z) = φ (x, y, e) = 1,

for all x, y, z ∈ G.
Indeed, by taking z = e in (1.2.2), we find that φ (x, y, e) = 1. By taking y = e, we
find that φ (e, z,t) = 1.
(2) A coboundary Δ2 (g) is normalized if and only if g(e, x) = g(z, e), for all
x, z ∈ G.

As we shall see, H 3 (G, k∗ ) is completely determined by the normalized 3-cocycles.

Lemma 1.11 Every 3-cocycle φ is cohomologous to a normalized 3-cocycle.

Proof By taking y = z = e in (1.2.2) we find φ (x, e,t) = φ (e, e,t)φ (x, e, e). In par-
ticular, by taking x = t = e, it follows that φ (e, e, e) = 1. Then we consider the map
10 Monoidal and Braided Categories

f : G × G → k∗ , f (x, y) = φ (e, e, y)−1 φ (x, e, e), and compute:

Δ2 ( f )(x, e, y) = f (e, y) f (x, y)−1 f (x, y) f (x, e)−1

= φ (e, e, y)−1 φ (e, e, e)φ (e, e, e)φ (x, e, e)−1 = φ (x, e, y)−1 .

It then follows that φ Δ2 ( f ) is normalized.

Let B3n (G, k∗ ) and Zn3 (G, k∗ ) be the subgroups of B3 (G, k∗ ) and Z 3 (G, k∗ ) consist-
ing of normalized elements. We have a well-defined group morphism

Zn3 (G, k∗ )/B3n (G, k∗ ) φ̂ → φ ∈ Z 3 (G, k∗ )/B3 (G, k∗ )

which is surjective by Lemma 1.11. One can see that it is also injective, and therefore

H 3 (G, k∗ ) = Zn3 (G, k∗ )/B3n (G, k∗ ).

Example 1.12 If k is a field of characteristic different from 2 and C2 is the cyclic

group of order 2 then H 3 (C2 , k∗ ) = C2 . If char(k) = 2, then H 3 (C2 , k∗ ) = {e}.

Proof Write C2 = {1, σ }. A straightforward computation shows that all normal-

ized coboundaries are trivial. If φ is a normalized 3-cocycle, then the only value of
φ (x, y, z) that is possibly different from 1 is φ (σ , σ , σ ). By substituting x = y = z =
t = σ in (1.2.2), we find that φ (σ , σ , σ ) = ±1. If φ (σ , σ , σ ) = 1, then φ is trivial.
The only possibly non-trivial normalized 3-cocycle is given by φ (σ , σ , σ ) = −1.
Consequently, if char(k) = 2 then any normalized 3-cocycle is trivial, and so
H (C2 , k∗ ) = {e}.
3

One can now provide the connection between H 3 (G, k∗ ) and some monoidal struc-
tures on VectG .

Proposition 1.13 Let G be a group, k a field and VectG the category of G-graded k-
vector spaces. There is a bijective correspondence between the monoidal structures
on VectG of the form (VectG , ⊗, a, k, l, r) and the set of normalized 3-cocycles on G,
where ⊗ is defined by (1.2.1) and l, r are the constraints of the monoidal category
k M as defined in Subsection 1.2.2.
More precisely, any associativity constraint a on VectG is completely determined
by a normalized 3-cocycle φ ∈ H 3 (G, k∗ ), in the sense that, for any U,V,W ∈ VectG
and any homogeneous elements u ∈ U, v ∈ V and w ∈ W , aU,V,W is the k-linear map

aU,V,W ((u ⊗ v) ⊗ w) = φ (| u |, | v |, | w |)u ⊗ (v ⊗ w).

φ the category Vect with monoidal structure determined by φ .

We denote by VectG G

Proof If φ is a normalized 3-cocycle on G then, clearly, the morphism aU,V,W de-

fined above preserves the degree of homogeneous elements, so it is a morphism in
VectG . The Pentagon Axiom (1.1.1) follows now from (1.2.2), while the Triangle
Axiom in (1.1.2) follows because φ is normalized. The details are straightforward,
so they are left to the reader.
 1.2 Examples of Monoidal Categories 11

Conversely, suppose that VectG has a monoidal structure of the form mentioned in
the statement. For any U ∈ VectG and any k-linear map f : U → k define θ f : U →
k[G] by θ f (u) = ∑x∈G f (ux )x, for all u ∈ U, where u = ∑x∈G ux is the decomposition
of u in homogeneous components. Obviously, θ f is a graded morphism. Likewise
we define θg and θh , for any V,W ∈ VectG and all g : V → k and h : W → k.
Now take ε : k[G] → k defined by ε (g) = 1, for all g ∈ G, extended by linearity. A
simple computation shows that (ε ⊗ ε )(θ f ⊗ θg ) = f ⊗ g.
We are now able to show that an associativity constraint a of VectG is completely
determined by ak[G],k[G],k[G] . More precisely, for a, an associativity constraint on
VectG , define φ (x, y, z) := (ε ⊗ (ε ⊗ ε ))ak[G],k[G],k[G] ((x ⊗ y) ⊗ z), for all x, y, z ∈ G.
By the naturality of a, for any U,V,W and f , g, h as above, we have

(θ f ⊗ (θg ⊗ θh ))aU,V,W ((u ⊗ v) ⊗ w) = ak[G],k[G],k[G] ((θ f ⊗ θg ) ⊗ θh )((u ⊗ v) ⊗ w),

where u ∈ U, v ∈ V and w ∈ W are arbitrary elements.

Assume that u, v, w are homogeneous of degrees x, y and z, respectively, and write

aU,V,W ((u ⊗ v) ⊗ w) = ∑ ui ⊗ (vi ⊗ wi ),

i

for some homogeneous elements ui ∈ U, vi ∈ V and wi ∈ W . We obtain that

∑ f (ui )g(vi )h(wi ) | ui | ⊗ (| vi | ⊗ | wi |) = f (u)g(v)h(w)ak[G],k[G],k[G] ((x ⊗ y) ⊗ z).

i

By applying ε ⊗ (ε ⊗ ε ) on both sides of the above equality we obtain

∑ f (ui )g(vi )h(wi ) = φ (x, y, z) f (u)g(v)h(w).

i

Since f , g, h are arbitrary we get aU,V,W ((u⊗v)⊗w) = φ (| u |, | v |, | w |)u⊗(v⊗w), as

stated. Note that the bijectivity of the associativity constraint implies that φ (x, y, z) =
0, for all x, y, z ∈ G. It is clear now that a satisfies the Pentagon and Triangle Axioms
if and only if φ is a normalized 3-cocycle on G, and so we are done.

Remark 1.14 If φ is the trivial 3-cocycle on G then the monoidal structure on

VectG is entirely induced by the monoidal structure of k M described in Subsection
1.2.2. In this case VectG is strict monoidal and the grading is relevant only in the
definition of the tensor product of VectG .

A non-strict monoidal structure on VectG when G is cyclic of order 2 can be

obtained by considering Example 1.12. Note that in this case we get the so-called
category of super vector spaces.

Example 1.15 (Super vector spaces) Let k be a field, Z2 = {0, 1} the cyclic group
of order 2, this time written additively, and consider the category VectZ2 of Z2 -graded
k-vector spaces. It can be identified with the category whose objects are pairs V =
(V0 ,V1 ) of k-vector spaces. A morphism from (V0 ,V1 ) to (V0 ,V1 ) in VectZ2 is a pair
( f0 , f1 ) of k-linear maps with fi : Vi → Vi , i ∈ {0, 1}.
Another random document with
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boys,” he said, “will tease you for a bit, but don’t you take any notice of
them. There is nothing really bad at their hearts.”
“Thank you,” said Sandie; “I’ll try to take your advice.”
By-and-bye the young men began to arrive in swarms, and Sandie at
once became the centre of attraction. It must be confessed that Sandie’s
clothes, if not decidedly countrified, were not over fashionable.
“Hullo, Geordie,” cried one fellow, rushing up and seizing Sandie by the
hand; “man, I’m awfu’ glaid to see you.”
“And hoo’s the taties and neeps?” cried another.
Sandie answered never a word.
“Man, Geordie Muckiefoot, do you think ye can manage to do a
version?”
“Can you conjugate amo, Geordie? Ye ken hoo it goes: Amo, amas, I
love a lass; amas, amat, she lived in a flat, and so on?”
“But I say, Geordie Muckiefoot,” cried a taller fellow, coming forward
and throwing himself into a pugilistic attitude before Sandie—squaring up,
as it is called—“can ye fecht? Losh! I’m spoilin’ for a fecht.”
“I can’t fight, and I won’t fight,” said Sandie; “I’d rather be friends with
you.”
“Rather run a mile than fecht a minute, eh? Weel, weel, dinna fash your
fins; I wadna like to hurt ye, Geordie Muckiefoot.”
This hulking lad, it may be as well to state, was the bully of the school,
and all had to lower their flag to him. He changed his tactics now to tactics
more tantalising.
“And foo (how) did ye leave a’ at hame?” he asked. “Foo is your big fat
mither, and your sister, muckle-moo’d Meg?”
Sandie’s face grew crimson with rage.
“Stop just right there,” he cried; “you may insult me as much as you like,
but you shall leave my dear mother and sister alone.”
“Bravo!” cried several students.
But the bully didn’t mean to be put back. He threw off his jacket, and
advanced once more in a threatening attitude, and once more launched an
insult at Sandie’s sister.
 Off came the ploughman-student’s coat, and in half-a-minute more the
bully was lying in the quad, breathless, and bleeding from nose and eye.
But he hadn’t quite enough. He rallied, and once again came on like death.
And now Sandie got his head in chancery, and simply made what is
called a mummy of the fellow. When our hero let him go, he dropped down
on the gravel as limp and “dweeble” as bath-towel, and the rest of the
students crowded round the victor to wish him luck, and bid him welcome
to the Grammar School. Fraser, the bully, they said, richly deserved what he
had gotten, and he, Sandie M‘Crae, had emancipated the whole school.
Just then the bell began to ring, and presently Rector Geddes himself
walked up to the hall-door. He walked with a slight studious stoop. Whether
or not he saw Fraser doubled up there like an old dishcloth may never be
known; at all events, he took no notice.
Sandie said that he quite reciprocated the good feeling of the lads, and
hoped they would all be friends henceforward. Then he went quietly in with
his burden of books, and seated himself at the very bottom of the lowest
faction. Here Lord Byron’s name was cut out in the desk; it had been carved
by his own hand, and the lads who occupied this faction pointed to it with
no little pride. They were a merry lot in this corner, and laughed and talked
instead of paying any attention to what the Rector was saying.
“You’ll be as happy as a king down here for months,” said one bright-
faced and particularly well-dressed boy; “I’ll lend you novels to read, if you
like.”
“But I hope,” said Sandie, “I won’t be long down here. Your father is
rich, I suppose?”
“Yes, my father is Provost.”
“Ah! but mine is only a poor farmer, and I am really only a farm-servant
to him. If I get a bursary this year, I will get on; if not, I shall have to go
back again to the plough.”
“Poor fellow! what is your name?”
“Sandie M‘Crae.”
“Well, Sandie, I like you; you are brave. I rejoiced in the way you stood
up for your mother and sister; I’m sure she must be a nice girl.”
“She is the best and sweetest girl in all the parish of Drumlade.”
 “And I like the way you tumbled old Eraser, the bully, up, and turned
him outside in. Will you come and have supper with me to-night? Do.”
What could Sandie say to this idle but gentle boy? He could not well
refuse.
“My life depends on my gaining a bursary,” he replied; “but I will come
for two hours.”
“Well, two hours be it.”
And no more was said.
That forenoon the students under the Rector adjourned to the hall, and
the version was dictated, and translations gone on with.
Sandie found that version far more easy than he had expected. He hardly
had to use a dictionary twice the whole time. When he had finished, he
carefully revised it twice, than handed it in, and received a bow and thanks
from the polite Rector.
. . . . . .
He did not forget his appointment with gentle Willie Munro, the
Provost’s son. Sandie dressed most carefully for the occasion, and in his
Sunday’s clothes, with a flower in his button-hole, he really looked
handsome.
He was shy, however, and a little taken aback when ushered into the
splendidly furnished and well-lighted drawing-room, more particularly as
Willie’s mother and ever so many sisters were there. The mother rallied him
about the battle with the bully, and Willie arriving just then, Sandie was
soon completely at his ease. He soon found that he was among real friends,
in the bosom of a family of kind-hearted people, who, though very well-to-
do in the world, had none of that foolish pride only too common to people
in such a station.
When at the two hours’ end Sandie left to burn the midnight oil, it was
with a promise that he would come again and again, that he would look
upon them as friends, and the house as his home. Sandie promised.
Very much to his own astonishment, and to the wonder of everybody
else, Sandie’s version next day was declared sine errore (free from all
mistakes), and from the bottom faction he was elevated to the very first,
close beneath the Rector’s desk.
 As he walked up the passage between the rows of seats, he held down
his head, for his face was burning like a coal.
Rector Geddes held out his hand, and shook that of Sandie.
“I congratulate you, boy, from my heart, and trust you will maintain the
proud position you have now secured.”
And Sandie did. He never once had reason to leave that first faction all
the time he was there. And the Munroes became his constant friends and
companions whenever he had an hour to spare. Many a delightful long walk
Willie and he had together out by the dark woods of Rubislaw, or by the old
bridge of Balgownie, that Byron writes about so feelingly. After walks like
these, Sandie always went to Willie’s house to supper. The girls would play
and sing to him, and sometimes he himself would be induced to sing an
auld Scotch song, so that the evenings passed quickly and pleasantly
enough.
One day Sandie received a polite invitation from the Rector to come to
supper. It wanted just eight days from the great competition day. The Rector
was very merry to-night, and did not talk classics at all; but just before
Sandie left, he took him by the hand.
“You’ll do what I tell you, won’t you?”
“I will, sir, right gladly.”
“Well, you shall go home to-morrow to the country, and you shall not
open a book nor pass a single hour in study until you are seated in the
University Hall with the competition papers before you. Do this, and you
will succeed. Disobey me, and you will worry yourself and fail.”
“I promise,” said Sandie; and he kept his word.

CHAPTER VII

THE LOVE-DARG—THE BALL AT KILBUIE

Home with Sandie to his rural residence went Willie Munro. Willie had
invited himself. Willie would not be denied. It was all in vain that Sandie
had told him flatly that he would be a stranger to all luxury, that he would
have to live on milk, oatmeal, sheep’s-head broth, and new-laid eggs, and
sleep in a closet not big enough to swing a cat in.
 “I don’t care,” cried Willie determinedly; “I’m going. Rural fare will be
a delightful change, and I don’t want to swing a cat, so I’m going, Sandie.
Besides,” he added demurely, “I want to get some fishing, and to hear your
sister play the zither.”
There had been no gainsaying such arguments as these; so on the
evening of a bright clear day in October, Sandie’s mother was bidding her
son and his friend a right hearty welcome in the best parlour.
If ever there was a real city lad, that lad was Willie Munro. His total
ignorance of country and farm life was delightfully refreshing to Sandie and
his sister. Of course Willie knew that potatoes did not grow on trees, but
that was about the extent of his agricultural knowledge; and as to natural
history and the lives of birds, moths, beetles, &c., he really knew nothing.
Had any one told him that the rook built its nest in a bush of broom, and
that the lark built high in a swaying ash-tree, Willie would have taken it for
truth.
Willie’s ignorance of country life did not, however, detract in the least
from his enjoyment thereof. He had come out from town with the intention
of being jolly and happy, and he determined he should be so.
He was not long in confiding to Sandy that his sister Elsie was an angel,
and that his mother was an angel’s mother. Elsie was quite as much pleased
with Willie as Willie was with her, and it gave her very great pleasure to
play the zither and sing to him in the evening.
Well, then, they paid a visit to the manse together. Mackenzie was much
pleased to see Sandie once again, and to hear of his success, and Willie
seemed to fall head over heels in love with Maggie May. But Maggie May
was severely demure, very much to Sandie’s delight, and he felt that the
child loved no one half so well as she loved him—that is, after her father, of
course.
They all went fishing together, and wonderful to relate, Willie succeeded
in catching a trout, a real live trout, that capered and jumped about on the
green grassy bank at a fine rate, turning up its silvery sides to the sun till in
mercy Sandie put it out of pain.
But Willie was not really happy until, that same evening, he had written
home a long account of the capture of that fish and his hopes of catching
more.
 The day after that was a big day at Kilbuie, for the love-darg in
ploughing came off. Almost before the dawn, horses and ploughs and
ploughmen began to arrive at the farm from all directions, and when all
were assembled, it was found there were no fewer than two-and-twenty
pairs. With such a force, long before sundown every ridge of stubble or
grass on Kilbuie would be turned over.
Not only the ploughmen themselves, but in many cases the farmer-
owners of the horses had come over, and these farmers had made up
between them several prizes to be awarded to the men who did the best
work.
So the ploughing went merrily on. It was a fine sight too to see all those
gallant horses in their light but polished harness, and gay with silken
ribbons of every colour, and brass bradoons, walking majestically to and fro
the ridges, the gaily dressed honest-faced ploughmen holding the stilts and
quietly but earnestly trying to do their best.
Willie Munro was delighted. But he and Sandie had something else to do
that day than simply look on at the ploughing match; for that evening, in
Kilbuie’s largest grain loft, there was going to take place a grand country
ball, and the decorations of the room devolved upon Sandie, Willie freely
offering to help.
Well, the first thing was to get the place thoroughly swept out and
cleaned. This was a dusty job, but it was finished at last. It also had been a
thirsty job, but Sandie’s sister Elsie had brought the boys a whole gallon of
delicious butter-milk, and thirst was kept in abeyance. Geordie Black, the
orra man, had been busy for days in making wooden sconces for candles,
and these were nailed up all around the hall, and tall candles placed in them.
Off now to the woods went Sandie and Willie to cut down green boughs
for the purpose of decoration. They made many such journeys to and fro,
and did not spare their backs, so that by the time the frugal mid-day meal
was on the board, they had conveyed home nearly enough. Elsie was too
busy in the house, so the whole work devolved upon the two boys; but right
cheerily it went on.
The last part of the room to be decorated was the orchestra. This was
simply a raised bench close to the wall in the middle of the room, so that
dancers at either end could have an equal chance of hearing the music.
 The band was to consist of three small fiddles, one double-bass, and a
clarionet. They were all volunteers, and would not charge Mr. M‘Crae a
brass farthing for their services. This was the band proper, but during the
evening they would be relieved occasionally by a couple of Highland pipers
—
“All plaided and plumed in their tartan array.”
Well, then, when the work was at last finished, they paused to look at it.
“I think it will do well,” said Sandie.
“And I say it is just too awfully scrumptious for anything,” said Willie.
“I think we ought to receive a vote of thanks.”
“And I think we can live a long time without having the proud
satisfaction glowing within our manly buzzoms that we have done it all.”
“But come, I’m hungry,” said Sandie.
“Et ego quoque,” quoth Willie.
“There is cold beef about, I know. Let us go and hunt up Jeannie.”
Jeannie was easily found, and produced in the kitchen, sans cérémonie,
not only cold beef, but freshly boiled mashed potatoes and two huge
beakers of milk.
“Fa’ tee,” she said, meaning “Fall to.” “Fa’ tee, laddies.”
The laddies didn’t require a second bidding.
That evening at six o’clock, after bread and cheese and a dram, the
ploughman chiels took their horses home. They would need all their time to
dress and get back to the ball; but the farmers themselves were entertained
in Kilbuie’s biggest room to a plain but substantial dinner. They sat down at
half-past six o’clock, and it was nine before they rose to go.
By this time the hall was beginning to fill with buxom lads and lasses
gay. There were forms by way of seats arranged all around the walls, and
the lasses sat religiously on one side, and the lads on the other.
The dresses of the girls were all simple, chiefly white, with coloured
ribbons in their hair, and light silken plaids of tartan thrown prettily over the
shoulder. Many of the lads wore the Highland dress.
An Englishman would have been utterly surprised and taken aback at the
display of beauty on the female side of the room. The girls were nearly all
young and regular in feature, while their bright eyes, ruddy lips, and
splendid complexions left nothing to be desired.
Couple after couple now began to arrive rapidly enough, the lads leading
their partners to the female side of the house, bowing, and leaving them.
Anon, the fiddles began to tune up, every note striking a joy-chord in the
hearts of the younger girls and boys, bringing a brighter flush to their
cheeks, a more gleesome glitter to their eyes.
But as yet dancing had not commenced. Presently, however, there
entered M‘Crae with his buxom wife, followed by a posse of sturdy
farmers. They were received with a true Highland cheer, and it was felt by
all that the ball would now begin.
M‘Crae first made a little speech, bidding everybody heartily welcome
to the winter ball at Kilbuie, and especially thanking the farmers and their
bold ploughmen for their kind and thoughtful love-darg. His own dancing
days being over, he said, his son, and a friend of his, would open the ball
with the Reel of Tulloch, to which the pipers would vouchsafe music.
Now Willie and Sandie take the floor. Willie leads up Sandie’s shy but
smiling sister, Elsie, who is dressed in white, with a M‘Crae tartan plaid,
and a single blood-red rose in her dark hair. Sandie wears the kilt, but he
has yet to look for a partner.
There are a good many downcast looks, and not a few palpitating hearts,
as he walks gaily along the ladies’ benches. He is simply looking for the
prettiest girl he can find.
He is satisfied at last, and leads her blushing to the floor. The pipers take
their stand, and, after a few preliminary skirls, strike straight into the Reel
o’ Hoolachan.
Anon the dance begins, and such dancing! Don’t call waltzing or the
quadrille dancing, reader. Unless you have seen the Reel of Tulloch danced
well, as it is at, say, the balls at Balmoral Castle, you have never known
what a dance is in your life.
After this wild reel, the ice may be said to be fairly broken, and dance
after dance succeeds each other without intermission, accompanied by
much cracking of thumbs and “hooching.”
It is a merry scene—the merriest of the merry. No English tourist, who
wants to learn anything about the Scot at home, should neglect seeing a
rural ball, if he should be fortunate enough to get the chance of securing a
ticket. I think he would retire south with kindlier thoughts of the Scottish
people than are usually entertained in the southern counties at the present
day.
One chief feature of the ball I must not forget to mention, namely, the
sweetie-wives. No one knows where these women gather from, but there
they are, to the number of a dozen or more, sitting in two rows, just outside
the door. At their feet stand huge baskets, filled with packets of Scotch
confectionery, and the lads during all the evening are constant in their
attendance, buying sweets, to treat their partners withal.
Some of the more pretty girls have really not pockets enough to contain
all the sweets they receive from their admiring partners of the dance, and so
distribute them with a liberal hand to their less fortunate neighbours, thus
making room for more.
Some time after midnight there is a lull in the dancing, and bread and
cheese, with pailfuls of steaming punch or toddy, are handed round twice.
During this interval for refreshment, several bonnie old Scotch songs are
sung, to the sweet accompaniment of fiddle and clarionet.
After this, the fun may be said to become fast and furious, and the ball is
kept up without intermission till long past three o’clock. But now weary
eyes begin, to long for sleep; so shawls and big Highland plaids are got out,
and one by one the couples melt away, and presently the band descends
from its perch, helps itself to more bread and cheese and the remainder of
the now cold punch, then puts up its instruments in green baize bags, and
seeks the outer air.
The ball is over, but through the length and breadth of the country next
day it is freely admitted that no night’s enjoyment ever remembered could
compare with the glorious ball, the gleesome rant, at the farm of old
Kilbuie.

CHAPTER VIII

THE STORM—SNOW SHOES—A SLEIGH RIDE

More than once during this week Sandie M‘Crae experienced an almost
irresistible longing to get back to his books. What, he could not help saying
to himself, would dear old Horace and Homer the thunderer do without
him? Then he remembered his promise to Rector Geddes and refrained. He
knew in his own heart that the Rector really was right, for by giving the
brain a complete rest, it would be all the fresher when it came to stand the
test. The first part of the brain-power to get weak is the memory; and rest,
and rest alone, can restore this.
So whenever Sandie longed for his books, he jumped up and went in
search of Willie, who was never far away, and together they would plan
some new amusement.
They marched over to the manse of Belhaven one day, for example, with
their shooting-bags on their backs, and their guns upon their shoulders. The
minister was delighted to see them. Yes, they had just come to the right
place. There were plenty of partridges in the turnips, there were rabbits on
or near the corries, and there were thousands of wild pigeons, devouring the
remainder of the blaeberries on the blaeberry hill. The good minister even
caused his cook to make up a delightful luncheon for them, and put in the
basket two bottles of heather-ale.
“Of course,” said Mackenzie, “you will want a keeper or guide.”
“Shall we?”
“Oh, yes, most certainly; and I’ll send you one.”
He retired for that purpose.
Presently into the room marched pretty Maggie May herself, with a bag
slung over her shoulder, and in her hand a tiny double-barrelled fowling-
piece.
After her came her father.
“Boys,” he said, smiling, “behold your keeper!”
Both lads looked astonished, but especially Willie.
“Why—why,” he ejaculated, “you never mean to say that she can let a
gun off?”
“She is a very good sportsman, indeed,” said her father proudly. “I
myself would go with you, but I am busy to-day. She knows the
whereabouts of every bird on the glebe and on the hills. Trust her.”
I may mention here, parenthentically, that it is by no means an
uncommon thing in the Highlands of Scotland for young ladies to go to the
hill with bag and gun, and I know many at this moment who are very
excellent shots indeed.
“Well,” continued Willie, “I am astonished. In fact, I believe you could
knock me down with a feather, or with a sledge-hammer anyhow. Shouldn’t
wonder now if Miss M‘Crae mightn’t be a better shot than I am.”
“Have you had much experience?” asked Mackenzie.
“Oh, quite a deal!” answered Willie seriously—“in the ha’penny
shooting-galleries, ye know. ‘Only a ha’penny a shot, and fire away;’ and ‘a
great big cocoa-nut if ye rings the bell.’ I rung the bell once. It was before I
took aim—the gun just went off by chance. But of course that is a mere
detail; I got the great big cocoa-nut all the same, I have it in my study till
this day, labelled, ‘Won at a shooting-match.’ ”
Maggie May and her father both laughed.
“But you’ve never been on the hill?”
“Oh, never near it.”
“Well, you must try not to shoot the dogs.”
“I’ll try hard.”
“Mine are a charming Gordon setter, who won’t range far away, and a
curly retriever, as wise as many a Christian.”
The dogs were delighted to get out: the setter fawned and cringed by
way of showing his delight and thankfulness; the retriever stood boldly
erect and barked his joy.
Maggie May proposed walking first to the distant blaeberry hill, and
trying their luck among the wild pigeons.
“The worst of it is,” said Maggie, “that after the first volley they all fly
away, and it may be hours before we see them again.”
They reached the hill at last, and approached the feeding-grounds of the
doves very cautiously—almost creeping, in fact.
All at once the good setter started a flock that flew right over them.
Both Sandie’s barrels and both Maggie May’s rang out on the still
autumn air almost simultaneously, and four birds fell.
But Willie’s gun, the trigger of which had been duly drawn, missed fire.
“Whatever is the matter?” cried the boy wonderingly.
 Now, this gun was a muzzle-loader; but, if the truth must be told, the lad
had never loaded a fowling-piece in his life before; and, being cross-
questioned, here is how he confessed having done so now. First he had
measured the charge of shot, and put that in, next the gunpowder, and
finally the wad. When he had put on the cap, he thought himself a true
sportsman, and fit for anything.
To say that Maggie May and Sandie laughed, would but poorly express
the degree of merriment they experienced at Willie’s confession.
Sandie now addressed a few words to Maggie May in the Gaelic, and
she smiled as she gave a brief reply.
The truth is, that with the screw end of the ramrod Sandie could easily
have drawn the wad and emptied the gun; but as Willie did not know this,
his companion determined to do nothing of the kind; for, if he did, he felt
certain in his own mind that one of the dogs would be shot ere sundown,
even if no more terrible tragedy should occur.
“What am I to do?” cried poor Willie, looking the very picture of
disconsolation.
“There is a blacksmith,” said Sandie, “lives about five miles from here,
who, I dare say, in three or four hours could put matters right. But I’m not
sure.”
“And my sport is ended for the day?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Heu! me miserum! as the Latin Grammar says. I’m in the dumps.”
And he looked so sad that Maggie May positively felt sorry for him.
They adjourned now to the corries, and all the forenoon was spent
among the rabbits. Here they certainly made a good bag—two good bags—
though they would have done better had they faced the bunnies in the open
or in the woods. Among the corries there was so much cover, so many
stones, and burrows or caves, and rabbits have a disagreeable habit of
dragging themselves out of sight even when all but dead. Carlo, the
retriever, however, did most excellent work, and succeeded in dragging
many a rabbit to bank, even after it had almost disappeared.
About two o’clock Maggie May frankly expressed herself as being
hungry, and Willie said he was famishing, though he hadn’t fired a shot.
 So luncheon was produced, and ample justice done thereto, for these
three young people had succeeded in establishing appetites of a kind
practically unknown in the lower districts of Merrie England.
Willie, after luncheon and a draught of heather-ale, admitted he felt
better, and could bear his misfortune with greater equanimity.
A start was now made for the turnip-fields, and here, the dogs having
better play, excellent sport was obtained. The Gordon setter worked
wonderfully well, keeping well in, not ranging, as Irish setters—beautiful
though they be—are rather too apt to do. He made splendid points, and
never less than two fell to the two guns if there was anything like a covey.
This was good, for it must be remembered that the birds were now rather
wild.
After the partridges, they once more adjourned to the blaeberry hill, to
which by this time the wild pigeons had returned. They managed to bag a
few more; and going on upwards to the heath-crested portion of the hill,
they were lucky enough to bring down a couple of grouse and a ptarmigan.
Neither Sandie nor Maggie May, who were real children of the mist, felt
one whit tired, but Willie frankly confessed that he was beginning to get
both “dweeble” and drowsy.
Well, the sun was already so near the horizon that it was getting as red as
a rising moon, and was just as rayless; so Maggie May, out of pity for
Willie, proposed to return home.
Mackenzie was standing in his hall-door to welcome home the
sportsmen, laden with the spoils of the chase.
“And what sort of a day have you had, boys?”
“Oh, splendid, sir, especially I,” said poor Willie. He then told him how
he had loaded his gun to begin with.
“But,” said the parson, “couldn’t you——”
A few words of Gaelic from Maggie May, and the sentence was never
finished.
“I’m afraid, Willie,” said Mackenzie, “your city method of loading guns
and our rural way present some slight differences. But away you go and
wash, the whole lot of you; dinner will be ready in half-an-hour.”
And dinner was. And such a dinner! Willie felt a happy man now. Clear
soup to trifle with as a commencement; then salmon that, but the day
before, had been sporting in the clear waters of the sunny Don; partridges,
and a small turkey to follow, with all the usual vegetable fixings—what
could heart of even so mighty a Nimrod as Willie Munro desire better than
that?
. . . . . .
It was long past nine o’clock, and the moon’s rich light was falling on
woods and valleys, when the two students, bidding their kindly entertainers
good-bye, started to walk home to the old farm of Kilbuie.
“I feel very contented and happy, Sandie,” said Willie, when they at
length reached the long loanings, and saw the lights from Kilbuie windows
blinking bonnily over the garden. “Very contented and happy. There
certainly are a few advantages in living in a city, but, ah! give me a farmer’s
life in preference to any. I do believe I shall ask my dad to make me a
farmer.”
“Well,” sighed Sandie, “it is all right when things go well; but, alas! my
dear father has had losses that would have driven many a man distracted.
Ha! here comes Tyro to bid us welcome. Down, doggie, down, boy, down.
Good dog! did you think we’d never return again any more?”
My English readers will not, I trust, feel shocked when I tell them that
the boys really enjoyed the nice little supper that Elsie had spread for them
by the roaring kitchen-fire. They were not gluttons, but remember they had
had a long walk since dinner, and that the air of the Don-side Highlands is
so strong and pure, that to be out in it for even a couple of hours is to secure
the appetite of a lion-hunter.
. . . . . .
It was eight o’clock next morning before either awoke, and, considering
the exertions of the previous day, this is not to be wondered at. But when
they did at last draw the blinds and look out, they were surprised, agreeably
or otherwise, to find that, during the night, a heavy snowstorm had fallen,
and that the snow was still coming steadily down. There had been no wind,
however, and it had not drifted.
Just after breakfast Jamie Duncan announced that he and Geordie, the
orra man, were going off to the fields to get up a “fordle” (large supply) of
“neeps” (turnips) for the cattle before the storm became deeper and
rendered it impossible.
“I’ll go too,” said Sandie determinedly.
 “And I also,” put in Willie.
Willie would not be denied; so half-an-hour afterwards four brave young
fellows were busy in the turnip-field. To pull the turnips with the hands
was, of course, impossible. They had to be dragged up with a curious kind
of fork, whose toes were claws. It is called in Aberdeenshire a “pluck.”
But so well and manfully did they work, that, with the assistance of the
light cart and the orra beast, before one o’clock the “fordle” was secured,
and as many turnips stored in the shed as would last the cattle for three
weeks’ time at least.
It cleared up in the afternoon, and Sandie got out a pair of real skis,[4] or
snowshoes, that a cousin of his had brought him from Norway some years
ago. He was quite an adept on these, and the speed with which he went
skidding over the snow-clad fields was truly marvellous.
It seemed so easy, too; so, of course, Willie must beg to be allowed to
try.
“You’ll find them a bit awkward at first,” said Sandie. “In about a week
you might master them.”
Willie got them on, or rather he got fastened on to them.
His first sensation on trying to move was that his feet were tied like
those of a hen going to market; his second, that he had dislocated both
ankles; his third, that he had broken his neck in the heap of snow into which
he had tumbled.
However, he prayed Sandie, as a good and kind friend, to release him.
“No more shees or skis, or whatever you call them, for me, thank you.”
Sandie laughed.
“If to-morrow is anything like a day,” he said, “we’ll get out the sleigh,
and Lord Raglan will tool us over to see the minister; you’ll be safe enough
in that, anyhow.”
“Oh, that will be delightful,” cried Willie excitedly.
Well, the next day was propitious, so far as the fore part of it went, at all
events. So Lord Raglan had his best harness put on, with any number of
silver-toned bells to jangle all around him; then he was put into the sleigh,
which was loaded with rugs and furs of all kinds, and after luncheon they
got on board. Geordie Black tucked the rugs well around them; Sandie
flicked the pony lightly with the whip.
 “Hip, hip, hip, hurray!” cried Geordie, Jamie, and Jeannie, and away
went the sleigh, never a sound breaking the silence save the merry music of
the bells, bells, bells, the ringing and the jingling of the bells.
How very brightly the sun shone! How bright and white the snow! It
seemed to have been sown with diamonds too, for the snow-stars sparkled
with all the colours of the rainbow, but far more brightly than any rainbow
ever bent o’er blackest cloud.
As the boys walked it, across country that is, the distance to the manse of
Belhaven would not be over five miles, but by horse-road it was fully
seven; and this was the road Sandie had to take with the sleigh. But so
warm and snug were they, and so exhilarating was the journey, that the time
seemed very short indeed. To Willie it was more than exhilarating—it was
romantic, and his heart spoke through his eyes as he exclaimed—
“As long as I live, Sandie, I will never forget this delightful visit to your
charming Highland home.”
 THE BLIZZARD.—Page 83.

CHAPTER IX

THE ADVENTURE AT BRUCE’S CAVERN

On their arrival at the manse, they found that the minister himself had been
called away to pray with a poor woman who was supposed to be dying.
But Maggie May was eminently suited to perform the duties of hostess,
and a right hearty welcome did she give them.
With her own hands did she prepare them a delicious hot draught of
mulled heather-ale, with soft biscuit broken up in it, for it was a long time
ere the dinner-hour.
Lord Raglan was put in the best stall in the stable, and the sleigh was
drawn into the shed.
Given three people all in their teens, a good piano, plenty of books and
music, and I think there is no danger of the time feeling irksome. It did not
in this case, at all events; and when Mackenzie entered the room three hours
after, he found them all as merry as crickets, and merrier.
 He was glad to see the boys, and said he really envied them their
pleasant ride. “For,” he added, “of all kinds of vehicular motion, that of the
sledge is undoubtedly the most pleasant.”
Sandie was a true gentleman at heart, and he at once proposed to place
his sleigh and Lord Raglan at the disposal of Mackenzie and his little
daughter for next day, if he chose to enjoy a ride. He himself would be
going back to Aberdeen, he said, in three days’ time, but his father would
let him have the sleigh at any time, all the same.
“Besides,” said Sandie, “it will hold you and me, sir, and little Maggie
May easily; so, if you like, I will come over if it is fine to-morrow and give
you an outing.”
The minister thanked him very much and readily accepted. But, woe is
me! there is many a slip in this world ’twixt the cup and the lip.
At dinner that day all three male people seemed to be in more than their
usual spirits, while Maggie May sat saying little, but an amused and
delighted listener nevertheless.
At nine o’clock it was time to start, but, first and foremost, all went out
to have a look at the weather.
It was moonlight—bright, clear, full moonlight—but ever and anon grey
and white ominous-looking snow-clouds were driving across the moon’s
disc, and rendering it momentarily dark. There was heard also now and then
a low moaning sound coming upwards from the pine woods that fringed the
icy Don. It appeared as if a storm were awakening in the forest, and might
soon burst bounds and go howling over all the land.
“I must confess,” said Mackenzie, shaking his head, “that I don’t quite
like the look of things. The wind—what little there is—is dead from the
north too. Don’t you think you had better stay all night?”
But for once in a way Sandie was obstinate, and so the sleigh was had
out, and Lord Raglan with his jingling bells put proudly in.
Soon after this, bidding their friends an affectionate “good night,” the
boys took their seats, and, with a farewell wave of their caps, off they
started as silently as if they had been ghosts—only ghosts don’t have such
sweetly musical bells.
. . . . . .
 They had accomplished about three miles of the journey at no great pace,
and were now in a very wild and dreary country indeed, hill and dell and
gloomy glen.
They were down in a hollow, and just crossing a Gothic bridge that
spanned a stream of dark brown water, which, slowly winding between its
banks of snow, looked at present as black as ink. Hardly had they left the
bridge, when, from the hills above and from the pine woods, swept a
blizzard so terrible that it almost cut their breath away, and caused even the
horse himself to stagger and feel faint.
It grew very dark too all at once, and, strange sight, they could see
lightning flashes among the snow, and hear peals of thunder high over the
roaring of the blizzard wind.
The whole air was not only filled with falling snow, but with ice-dust, as
it is called,—that is, the snow was caught up from the ground and
pulverised, till it became a powder so fine, but so cold, that to breathe it
caused a feeling of asphyxia, somewhat akin to that one feels on going first
under a shower-bath.
It must be confessed Sandie M‘Crae was taken aback, and hardly knew
what to do for the best. Perhaps the best would have been to return to the
manse. But his pride forbade, and he determined to push on.
It must be confessed, also, that Lord Raglan did all he could, and proved
himself a right good pony indeed. Yet it was soon evident to Sandie that he
must depend upon his sagacity entirely to keep to the right path, for he
could not tell in which direction he was driving.
Facing fearful odds, they got on about another mile, and the blizzard
now seemed to increase rather than abate, while great snow-wreaths were
thrown across the road that were all but impassable.
Sandie had shut his eyes for a time, leaving everything to Lord Raglan.
Every eyelash was an icicle, and the ice and snow were incrusted on the
cheeks of both boys.
And now I have to record an instance of sagacity on the part of this wise
old pony, that, if not unparalleled, is at least very strange, and proves that
there are more things in heaven and earth than we have dreamt of in our
philosophy. In fact, in our human pride, we are all too apt to despise the
lower animals, and to forget that they reason and think on the same lines as
we do, though not to the same degree. But every now and then occasions or
emergencies arise that seem to stimulate their reasoning faculties, and raise
them for the time being to a level with those of the biped man.
When Sandie opened his sleepy, half-frozen eyes—indeed he was not
sure that he had not been asleep—he found that there was a momentary lull
in the blizzard, and that the moon once more shone clearly down on the
great snow waste, though away to windward huge clouds, like rocks and
towers, were slowly banking up, and would soon again cover all the sky,
when once more the storm would rage with additional fury.
But he also noticed, to his alarm and surprise, that Lord Raglan had left
the road, bringing the wind more on their backs, and that he was rapidly
approaching a high, black, rocky cliff at the head of a field, and close to a
dark and brawling burn.
Ten minutes afterwards he drew up right at the foot of these rocks, and
close to the opening of a cave.
Lord Raglan and Sandie too had often been here before in the sweet
summer-time, when the banks of the stream were covered with wild-
flowers, and glad fish leapt up in scores in every sunlit pool.
Sandie knew the place at once.
He nudged Willie, who was half asleep.
“Willie, Willie,” he cried, “we are saved. The horse has saved us from a
terrible death.”
“Where are we?” muttered Willie.
“At Bruce’s cavern. I know it well. We must all get in before the storm
comes on again. Arise, Willie, pull yourself together; there is no time to
lose.”
Willie did arise, and leapt as nimbly down as his half-frozen legs would
permit him.
Then Lord Raglan was unharnessed and led into the cave. Next the
sleigh was dragged in, and hardly was this secured ere the blizzard came on
again with redoubled fury. The mouth of the cave was so situated that the
snow could not drift very far in, but in less than an hour it was entirely and
completely snowed over, so that to all intents and purposes the boys were
buried alive.
The snow at the cave mouth, however, only made it warmer within. So
one of the lamps were lit, and Sandie proceeded to make a bed from the