Symmetry classes of alternating sign matrices in a nineteen-vertex model

Abstract

The nineteen-vertex model of Fateev and Zamolodchikov on a periodic lattice with an anti-diagonal twist is investigated. Its inhomogeneous transfer matrix is shown to have a simple eigenvalue, with the corresponding eigenstate displaying intriguing combinatorial features. Similar results were previously found for the same model with a diagonal twist. The eigenstate for the anti-diagonal twist is explicitly constructed using the quantum separation of variables technique. A number of sum rules and special components are computed and expressed in terms of Kuperberg’s determinants for partition functions of the inhomogeneous six-vertex model. The computations of some components of the special eigenstate for the diagonal twist are also presented. In the homogeneous limit, the special eigenstates become eigenvectors of the Hamiltonians of the integrable spin-one XXZ chain with twisted boundary conditions. Their sum rules and special components for both twists are expressed in terms of generating functions arising in the weighted enumeration of various symmetry classes of alternating sign matrices (ASMs). These include half-turn symmetric ASMs, quarter-turn symmetric ASMs, vertically symmetric ASMs, vertically and horizontally perverse ASMs and double U-turn ASMs. As side results, new determinant and pfaffian formulas for the weighted enumeration of various symmetry classes of alternating sign matrices are obtained.