Semisimplifying categorical Heisenberg actions and periodic equivalences

Abstract

We systematically apply semisimplification functors in modular representation theory. Motivated by the Duflo--Serganova functor in Lie superalgebras, we construct various functors of interest. In the setting of finite groups, we refine the cyclic group Brauer construction and categorify the Glauberman correspondence. In the setting of degenerate categorical Heisenberg actions, we obtain a rich collection of functors which commute with the categorical action. Applied to well-known categorifications of the basic representation and Fock space, our functors give explicit realizations of periodic equivalences for polynomial functors and symmetric groups first studied by Henke-Koenig. This allows us to globalize the equivalences of Henke-Koenig by symmetric monoidal functors. We apply these results to deduce branching properties of certain modular representations of $S_n$.