Our work is motivated by obtaining solutions to the quantum reflection equation (qRE) by categorical methods. To start, given a braided monoidal category ${\mathcal {C}}$ and ${\mathcal {C}}$-module category ${\mathcal {M}}$, we introduce a version of the Drinfeld center ${\mathcal {Z}}({\mathcal {C}})$ of ${\mathcal {C}}$ adapted for ${\mathcal {M}}$; we refer to this category as the reflective center ${\mathcal {E}}_{\mathcal {C}}({\mathcal {M}})$ of ${\mathcal {M}}$. Just like ${\mathcal {Z}}({\mathcal {C}})$ is a canonical braided monoidal category attached to ${\mathcal {C}}$, we show that ${\mathcal {E}}_{\mathcal {C}}({\mathcal {M}})$ is a canonical braided module category attached to ${\mathcal {M}}$; its properties are investigated in detail.

Our second goal pertains to when ${\mathcal {C}}$ is the category of modules over a quasitriangular Hopf algebra H, and ${\mathcal {M}}$ is the category of modules over an H-comodule algebra A. We show that the reflective center ${\mathcal {E}}_{\mathcal {C}}({\mathcal {M}})$ here is equivalent to a category of modules over an explicit algebra, denoted by $R_H(A)$, which we call the reflective algebra of A. This result is akin to ${\mathcal {Z}}({\mathcal {C}})$ being represented by the Drinfeld double ${\operatorname {Drin}}(H)$ of H. We also study the properties of reflective algebras.

Our third set of results is also in the Hopf setting above. We show that reflective algebras are quasitriangular H-comodule algebras, and we examine their corresponding quantum K-matrices; this yields solutions to the qRE. We also establish that the reflective algebra $R_H(\mathbb {k})$ is an initial object in the category of quasitriangular H-comodule algebras, where $\mathbb {k}$ is the ground field. The case when H is the Drinfeld double of a finite group is illustrated.

We explicitly determine the defining relations of all quantum symmetric pair coideal subalgebras of quantised enveloping algebras of Kac–Moody type. Our methods are based on star products on noncommutative ${\mathbb N}$-graded algebras. The resulting defining relations are expressed in terms of continuous q-Hermite polynomials and a new family of deformed Chebyshev polynomials.

We study the ring theory of the multi-parameter deformations of the quantum Schubert cell algebras obtained from 2-cocycle twists. This is a large family, which extends the Artin–Schelter–Tate algebras of twisted quantum matrices. We classify set theoretically the spectra of all such multi-parameter quantum Schubert cell algebras, construct each of their prime ideals by contracting from explicit normal localizations and prove formulas for the dimensions of their Goodearl–Letzter strata for base fields of arbitrary characteristic and all deformation parameters that are not roots of unity. Furthermore, we prove that the spectra of these algebras are normally separated and that all such algebras are catenary.