The higher spin generalization of the 6-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions and Macdonald polynomials (Q2346764)

The six-vertex model (also known as the square ice model) with domain wall boundary conditions is a well-studied integrable model in statistical physics related to, among other things, alternating sign matrices and the XXZ spin chain. It is defined on an \(n \times n\) grid and has two sets of spectral parameters \(x_1,\dots,x_n\); \(y_1,\dots,y_n\) in addition to a global crossing parameter \(q\). The model has a very rich phenomenology. In particular, the partition function is symmetric in both sets of spectral parameters separately and can be expressed as a determinant, the so-called Izergin-Korepin determinant. Moreover, at the value \(q=\exp(2\pi i/3)\), known as the combinatorial point, the partition function becomes a symmetric function in all \(2n\) parameters [\textit{Yu. G. Stroganov}, Theor. Math. Phys. 146, No. 1, 53--62 (2006); translation from Teor. Mat. Fiz. 146, No. 1, 65--76 (2006; Zbl 1177.82042)]. And it is not just any old symmetric function but a Schur function corresponding to the double-staircase partition \((n-1,n-1,\dots,1,1,0,0)\). This nice paper generalises this last result to a spin-\(\ell/2\) (\(\ell \in \mathbb{N}\)) version of the six-vertex model due to \textit{A. Caradoc}, \textit{O. Foda} and \textit{N. Kitanine} [``Higher spin vertex models with domain wall boundary conditions'', \url{arXiv:math-ph/0601061}], who also derived a formula for the partition function. In this case, the combinatorial point turns out to be \(q=\exp(2\pi i/(2\ell+1))\), and the resulting function in all \(2n\) spectral parameters turns out to be a Macdonald polynomial of the staircase \((\ell(n-1),\ell(n-1),\dots,\ell,\ell,0,0)\) with parameters \(`q\mathrm'=q^2\) and \(`t\mathrm'=q\).