Let $\mathfrak {g}$ be a complex semisimple Lie algebra with associated Yangian $Y_{\hbar }\mathfrak {g}$. In the mid-1990s, Khoroshkin and Tolstoy formulated a conjecture which asserts that the algebra $\mathrm {D}Y_{\hbar }\mathfrak {g}$ obtained by doubling the generators of $Y_{\hbar }\mathfrak {g}$, called the Yangian double, provides a realization of the quantum double of the Yangian. We provide a uniform proof of this conjecture over $\mathbb {C}[\kern-1.2pt\![{\hbar }]\!\kern-1.2pt]$ which is compatible with the theory of quantized enveloping algebras. As a by-product, we identify the universal R-matrix of the Yangian with the canonical element defined by the pairing between the Yangian and its restricted dual.

Skew left braces arise naturally from the study of non-degenerate set-theoretic solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation. To understand the algebraic structure of skew left braces, a study of the decomposition into minimal substructures is relevant. We introduce chief series and prove a strengthened form of the Jordan–Hölder theorem for finite skew left braces. A characterization of right nilpotency and an application to multipermutation solutions are also given.

Two theorems of Gateva-Ivanova [Set-theoretic solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation, braces and symmetric groups, Adv. Math. 338 (2018), 649–701] on square-free set-theoretic solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation are extended to a wide class of solutions. The square-free hypothesis is almost completely removed. Gateva-Ivanova and Majid's ‘cyclic’ condition ${\boldsymbol {\rm lri}}$ is shown to be equivalent to balancedness, introduced in Rump [A decomposition theorem for square-free unitary solutions of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, Adv. Math. 193 (2005), 40–55]. Basic results on balanced solutions are established. For example, it is proved that every finite, not necessarily square-free, balanced brace determines a multipermutation solution.

Set-theoretic solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation can be classified by their universal coverings and their fundamental groupoids. Extending previous results, universal coverings of irreducible involutive solutions are classified in the degenerate case. These solutions are described in terms of a group with a distinguished self-map. The classification in the nondegenerate case is simplified and compared with the description in the degenerate case.

An unexpected relationship between indecomposable involutive set-theoretic solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation and one-generator braces has recently been discovered by Agata and Alicja Smoktunowicz. We extend these results and answer three open questions which arose in this context.

A skew brace, as introduced by L. Guarnieri and L. Vendramin, is a set with two group structures interacting in a particular way. When one of the group structures is abelian, one gets back the notion of brace as introduced by W. Rump. Skew braces can be used to construct solutions of the quantum Yang–Baxter equation. In this article, we introduce a notion of action of a skew brace, and show how it leads to solutions of the closely associated reflection equation.

This paper explores the structure groups G(X,r) of finite non-degenerate set-theoretic solutions (X,r) to the Yang–Baxter equation. Namely, we construct a finite quotient $\overline {G}_{(X,r)}$ of G(X,r), generalizing the Coxeter-like groups introduced by Dehornoy for involutive solutions. This yields a finitary setting for testing injectivity: if X injects into G(X,r), then it also injects into $\overline {G}_{(X,r)}$. We shrink every solution to an injective one with the same structure group, and compute the rank of the abelianization of G(X,r). We show that multipermutation solutions are the only involutive solutions with diffuse structure groups; that only free abelian structure groups are bi-orderable; and that for the structure group of a self-distributive solution, the following conditions are equivalent: bi-orderable, left-orderable, abelian, free abelian and torsion free.

Braces were introduced by Rump in 2007 as a useful tool in the study of the set-theoretic solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation. In fact, several aspects of the theory of finite left braces and their applications in the context of the Yang–Baxter equation have been extensively investigated recently. The main aim of this paper is to introduce and study two finite brace theoretical properties associated with nilpotency, and to analyse their impact on the finite solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation.