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This is an informal introduction to the theory of quasitriangular Hopf algebras and its connections with physics. Basic properties and applications of Hopf algebras and Yang-Baxter equations are reviewed, with the quantum group U q (sl 2 ) as a frequent example. The development builds up to the representation theory of quasitriangular Hopf algebras. Much of the abstract representation theory is new, including a formula for the rank of a representation.
Shahn Majid (Wed,) studied this question.