Professor Xihua Cao (1920-2005) was a leading scholar at East China Normal University (ECNU) and a famous algebraist in China. His contribution to the Chinese academic circle is particularly the formation of a world-renowned 'ECNU School' in algebra, covering research areas include algebraic groups, quantum groups, algebraic geometry, Lie algebra, algebraic number theory, representation theory and other hot fields. In January 2020, in order to commemorate Professor Xihua Cao's centenary birthday, East China Normal University held a three-day academic conference. Scholars at home and abroad gave dedications or delivered lectures in the conference. This volume originates from the memorial conference, collecting the dedications of scholars, reminiscences of family members, and 16 academic articles written based on the lectures in the conference, covering a wide range of research hot topics in algebra. The book shows not only scholars' respect and memory for Professor Xihua Cao, but also the research achievements of Chinese scholars at home and abroad.

The theory of Schur-Weyl duality has had a profound influence over many areas of algebra and combinatorics. This text is original in two respects: it discusses affine q-Schur algebras and presents an algebraic, as opposed to geometric, approach to affine quantum Schur-Weyl theory. To begin, various algebraic structures are discussed, including double Ringel-Hall algebras of cyclic quivers and their quantum loop algebra interpretation. The rest of the book investigates the affine quantum Schur-Weyl duality on three levels. This includes the affine quantum Schur-Weyl reciprocity, the bridging role of affine q-Schur algebras between representations of the quantum loop algebras and those of the corresponding affine Hecke algebras, presentation of affine quantum Schur algebras and the realisation conjecture for the double Ringel-Hall algebra with a proof of the classical case. This text is ideal for researchers in algebra and graduate students who want to master Ringel-Hall algebras and Schur-Weyl duality.