Modified Traces and the Nakayama Functor

Abstract

We organize the modified trace theory with the use of the Nakayama functor of finite abelian categories. For a linear right exact functor Σ on a finite abelian category M, we introduce the notion of a Σ-twisted trace on the class Proj(M) of projective objects of M. In our framework, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the set of Σ-twisted traces on Proj(M) and the set of natural transformations from Σ to the Nakayama functor of M. Non-degeneracy and compatibility with the module structure (when M is a module category over a finite tensor category) of a Σ-twisted trace can be written down in terms of the corresponding natural transformation.