Yangians are one of the main examples of quantum groups introduced by Drinfeld and have found applications in combinatorics, representation theory and algebraic geometry. It is well-known that the R-matrix presentation of the Yangian in type A yields generators of its Drinfeld presentation. It has been an open problem to extend this result to the remaining types since Drinfeld’s pioneering work in 1980’s. Recently we found a solution for the classical types of BCD by constructing an explicit isomorphism between the R matrix and Drinfeld presentations of the Yangian.

This is joint work with Ming Liu and Alexander Molev.