2023/06/23 by Tobias Dyckerhoff, Mikhail Kapranov, Dyckerhoff, Tobias +3 · 1 citation
Mathematics · #Advanced Algebra and Geometry #Algebraic structures and combinatorial models #Category Theory (math.CT) #FOS: Mathematics #Homotopy and Cohomology in Algebraic Topology
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2306.13350
openalex publication_date 2023/06/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Euler's continuants are universal polynomials expressing the numerator and denominator of a finite continued fraction whose entries are independent variables. We introduce their categorical lifts which are natural complexes (more precisely, coherently commutative cubes) of functors involving compositions of a given functor and its adjoints of various orders, with the differentials built out of units and counits of the adjunctions. In the stable infinity-categorical context these complexes/cubes can be assigned totalizations which are new functors serving as higher analogs of the spherical twist and cotwist. We define N-spherical functors by vanishing of the twist and cotwist of order N-1 in which case those of order N-2 are equivalences. The usual concept of a spherical functor corresponds to N=4. We characterize N-periodic semi-orthogonal decompositions of triangulated (stable infinity-) categories in terms of N-sphericity of their gluing functors. The procedure of forming iterated orthogonals turns out to be analogous to the procedure of forming a continued fraction.