Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 78, Nos. 5/6, 1995. p. 1195-1251.
We analyze discrete symmetry groups of vertex models in lattice statistical mechanics represented as groups of birational transformations. They can be seen as generated by involutions corresponding respectively to two kinds of transformations on q x q matrices: the inversion of the q x q matrix and an (involutive) permutation of the entries of the matrix. We show that the analysis of the factorizations of the iterations of these transformations is a precious tool in the study of lattice models in statistical mechanics. This approach enables one to analyze two-dimensional q4-state vertex models as simply as three-dimensional vertex models, or higher-dimensional vertex models. Various examples of birational symmetries of vertex models are analyzed. A particular emphasis is devoted to a three-dimensional vertex model, the 64-state cubic vertex model, which exhibits a polynomial growth of the complexity of the calculations. A subcase of this general model is seen to yield integrable recursion relations. We also concentrate on a specific two-dimensional vertex model to see how the generic exponential growth of the calculations reduces to a polynomial growth when the model becomes Yang-Baxter integrable. It is also underlined that a polynomial growth of the complexity of these iterations can occur even for transformations yielding algebraic surfaces, or higher-dimensional algebraic varieties.