Frobenius algebra objects in Temperley–Lieb categories at roots of unity

Abstract We give a new definition of a Frobenius structure on an algebra object in a monoidal category, generalising Frobenius algebras in the category of vector spaces. Our definition allows Frobenius forms valued in objects other than the unit object and can be seen as a categorical version of Frobenius extensions of the second kind. When the monoidal category is pivotal, we define a Nakayama morphism for the Frobenius structure and explain what it means for this morphism to have finite order. Our main example is a well-studied algebra object in the (additive and idempotent completion of the) Temperley–Lieb category at a root of unity. We show that this algebra has a Frobenius structure and that its Nakayama morphism has order 2. As a consequence, we obtain information about Nakayama morphisms of preprojective algebras of Dynkin type, considered as algebras over the semisimple algebras on their vertices.