Spin Hecke algebras of finite and affine types

We introduce the spin Hecke algebra, which is a q-deformation of the spin symmetric group algebra, and its affine generalization. We establish an algebra isomorphism which relates our spin (affine) Hecke algebras to the (affine) Hecke–Clifford algebras of Olshanski and Jones–Nazarov. Relation between the spin (affine) Hecke algebra and a nonstandard presentation of the usual (affine) Hecke algebra is displayed, and the notion of covering (affine) Hecke algebra is introduced to provide a link between these algebras. Various algebraic structures for the spin (affine) Hecke algebra are established.