> this looks to be more concerned with applications towards number theory (specifically cohen-lenstra heuristics) rather than adding to the category theory literature.
(I'm a specialist in this area of number theory)
This is correct. The word "category" is being used in its colloquial English sense; this is not work on category theory.
[Edit: I'm mistaken in the above point; see comment below]
It's weird. It definitely reads like the Quanta author either didn't know what a mathematical category is, or didn't think it merited explanation, despite explaining simpler things in excruciating detail in the article.
Okay, looking at the paper more carefully (I'd just looked at the article before, and was arguing from my knowledge of the field more generally), I take it back -- there is definitely some formal category theory here.
(I'm a specialist in this area of number theory)
This is correct. The word "category" is being used in its colloquial English sense; this is not work on category theory.
[Edit: I'm mistaken in the above point; see comment below]