Quantum Plactic and Pseudo-Plactic Algebras Todor Popov Abstract We review the Robinson–Schensted–Knuth correspondence in the light of the quantum Schur–Weyl duality. The quantum plactic algebra is defined to be a Schur functor mapping a tower of left modules of Hecke algebras into a tower of U q gl-modules. The functions on the quantum group carry a U q gl-bimodule structure whose combinatorial spirit emerges in the RSK algorithm. The bimodule structure on the algebra of biletter words is used for a functorial formulation of the quantum pseudo-plactic algebra. The latter algebra has been proposed by Daniel Krob and Jean-Yves Thibon as a higher noncommutative analogue of the quantum torus. 1 Schur–Weyl Duality Let us denote by S the tower of the symmetric groups S r , S = r0 S r . The group algebra C[S r ] is the space of functions on S r . The algebra C[S r ] is a left and right module over itself. Similarly, the space of functions C[S] is a left and right module on itself, provided that each C[S r ] acts nontrivially only on its own level r . The Hecke algebra H r (q) is a deformation of the group algebra C[S r ] T i T i+1 T i = T i+1 T i T i+1 i = 1,..., r 1 T i T j = T j T i |i j |≥ 2 T 2 i = 1 + (q q 1 )T i i = 1,..., r 1. (1) The specialization of the formal parameter q to q = 1 yields the Coxeter relations of the symmetric group S r generated by the elementary transpositions s i = (ii + 1). For generic values of q one has an isomorphism of algebras H r (q) = C[S r ]. T. Popov (B ) INRNE, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tsarigradsko Chaussee, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria e-mail: tpopov@koc.edu.tr T. Popov Koç University, Rumeli Feneri Mh., 34450 Istanbul, Turkey © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2016 V. Dobrev (ed.), Lie Theory and Its Applications in Physics, Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics 191, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2636-2_32 441