Modular Categories and Orbifold Models

In this paper, we try to answer the following question: given a modular tensor category ? with an action of a compact group G, is it possible to describe in a suitable sense the “quotient” category ?/G? We give a full answer in the case when ?=?ℯ? is the category of vector spaces; in this case, ?ℯ?/G turns out to be the category of representation of Drinfeld's double D(G). This should be considered as the category theory analog of the topological identity {pt}/G=BG. This implies a conjecture of Dijkgraaf, Vafa, E. Verlinde and H. Verlinde regarding so-called orbifold conformal field theories: if ? is a vertex operator algebra which has a unique irreducible module, ? itself, and G is a compact group of automorphisms of ?, and some not too restrictive technical conditions are satisfied, then G is finite, and the category of representations of the algebra of invariants, ? ^G , is equivalent as a tensor category to the category of representations of Drinfeld's double D(G). We also get some partial results in the non-holomorphic case, i.e. when ? has more than one simple module. Received: 27 August 2001 / Accepted: 1 March 2002