Since they first arose in the 1970s and early 1980s, quantum groups have proved to be of great interest to mathematicians and theoretical physicists. The theory of quantum groups is now well established as a fascinating chapter of representation theory, and has thrown new light on many different topics, notably low-dimensional topology and conformal field theory. The goal of this book is to give a comprehensive view of quantum groups and their applications. The authors build on a self-contained account of the foundations of the subject and go on to treat the more advanced aspects concisely and with detailed references to the literature. Thus this book can serve both as an introduction for the newcomer, and as a guide for the more experienced reader. All who have an interest in the subject will welcome this unique treatment of quantum groups.

The quantum groups discussed in this book are the quantized enveloping algebras introduced by Drinfeld and Jimbo in 1985, or variations thereof. The theory of quantum groups has led to a new, extremely rigid structure, in which the objects of the theory are provided with canonical basis with rather remarkable properties. This book will be of interest to mathematicians working in the representation theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, knot theorists and to theoretical physicists and graduate students. Since large parts of the book are independent of the theory of perverse sheaves, the book could also be used as a text book.

This book start with an introduction to quantum groups for the beginner and continues as a textbook for graduate students in physics and in mathematics. It can also be used as a reference by more advanced readers. The authors cover a large but well-chosen variety of subjects from the theory of quantum groups (quantized universal enveloping algebras, quantized algebras of functions) and q-deformed algebras (q-oscillator algebras), their representations and corepresentations, and noncommutative differential calculus. The book is written with potential applications in physics and mathematics in mind. The basic quantum groups and quantum algebras and their representations are given in detail and accompanied by explicit formulas. A number of topics and results from the more advanced general theory are developed and discussed.

The volume starts with a lecture course by P. Etingof on tensor categories (notes by D. Calaque). This course is an introduction to tensor categories, leading to topics of recent research such as realizability of fusion rings, Ocneanu rigidity, module categories, weak Hopf algebras, Morita theory for tensor categories, lifting theory, categorical dimensions, Frobenius-Perron dimensions, and the classification of tensor categories. The remainder of the book consists of three detailed expositions on associators and the Vassiliev invariants of knots, classical and quantum integrable systems and elliptic algebras, and the groups of algebra automorphisms of quantum groups. The preface puts the results presented in perspective. Directed at research mathematicians and theoretical physicists as well as graduate students, the volume gives an overview of the ongoing research in the domain of quantum groups, an important subject of current mathematical physics.

This book provides an introduction to the theory of quantum groups with emphasis on their duality and on the setting of operator algebras. Part I of the text presents the basic theory of Hopf algebras, Van Daele's duality theory of algebraic quantum groups, and Woronowicz's compact quantum groups, staying in a purely algebraic setting. Part II focuses on quantum groups in the setting of operator algebras. Woronowicz's compact quantum groups are treated in the setting of $C^*$-algebras, and the fundamental multiplicative unitaries of Baaj and Skandalis are studied in detail. An outline of Kustermans' and Vaes' comprehensive theory of locally compact quantum groups completes this part. Part III leads to selected topics, such as coactions, Baaj-Skandalis-duality, and approaches to quantum groupoids in the setting of operator algebras. The book is addressed to graduate students and non-experts from other fields. Only basic knowledge of (multi-) linear algebra is required for the first part, while the second and third part assume some familiarity with Hilbert spaces, $C^*$-algebras, and von Neumann algebras.

In the past decade there has been an extemely rapid growth in the interest and development of quantum group theory.This book provides students and researchers with a practical introduction to the principal ideas of quantum groups theory and its applications to quantum mechanical and modern field theory problems. It begins with a review of, and introduction to, the mathematical aspects of quantum deformation of classical groups, Lie algebras and related objects (algebras of functions on spaces, differential and integral calculi). In the subsequent chapters the richness of mathematical structure and power of the quantum deformation methods and non-commutative geometry is illustrated on the different examples starting from the simplest quantum mechanical system — harmonic oscillator and ending with actual problems of modern field theory, such as the attempts to construct lattice-like regularization consistent with space-time Poincaré symmetry and to incorporate Higgs fields in the general geometrical frame of gauge theories. Graduate students and researchers studying the problems of quantum field theory, particle physics and mathematical aspects of quantum symmetries will find the book of interest.