Categories of operators and actions of group operads

Abstract

We propose a new model for multicategories with symmetries with respect to Zhang's group operads. The fully faithful embedding of the category of group operads into that of crossed interval groups is made use of, and it is shown that every multicategory gives rise to a fibration, in a sense, over a quotient of the total category of group operads. The symmetric structures can be presented as structures of internal presheaves over a category internal to the category of small categories, in other words a double category.