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.

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.

We prove two approximations of the open problem of whether the adjoint group of a non-nilpotent nil ring can be finitely generated. We show that the adjoint group of a non-nilpotent Jacobson radical cannot be boundedly generated and, on the other hand, construct a finitely generated, infinite-dimensional nil algebra whose adjoint group is generated by elements of bounded torsion.

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.