No label defined (Q3972849)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0713.00024.] This introduction, written by one of the pioneers on the subject, is concerned with the construction and motivation of quantum groups. After recalling the connection with the inverse scattering method, the relation between the classical Yang-Baxter equation and Poisson-Lie groups and subsequently, between the quantum Yang-Baxter equation and deformations of Poisson-Lie groups, the author emphasizes the role of the ``symbol'' of the quantization. Let \(\mathfrak g\) be a Lie bialgebra such that the cobracket is a coboundary defined by an antisymmetric element satisfying the classical Yang-Baxter equation. This element also defines a left invariant Poisson bracket on the algebra of functions on the simply connected group with Lie algebra \(\mathfrak g\). The symbol appears in the definition of the product in the quantization of this Poisson structure. [Its existence is guaranteed by a theorem of \textit{V. G. Drinfel'd}, Sov. Math., Dokl. 28, 667--671 (1983); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 273, 531--535 (1983; Zbl 0553.58038).] A simple manipulation of the symbol provides the quantization of the Poisson structure defined by the right invariant bracket. More than this, it allows naturally the quantization of the Poisson-Lie group structure corresponding to the Lie bialgebra and a solution of the quantum Yang-Baxter. In other words, the symbol is the ``fundamental'' piece of information. Then the author shows how this approach leads naturally to the definition of quantum groups given in [\textit{L. D. Faddeev}, \textit{N. Yu. Reshetikhin} and \textit{L. A. Takhtadzhyan}, Leningr. Math. J. 1, No. 1, 193--225 (1990); translation from Algebra Anal. 1, No. 1, 178--206 (1989; Zbl 0677.17010)], which originally was inspired by the quantum inverse scattering method. Finally, he discusses quantization of classical groups, applying the definition in loc. cit.