QUANTUM AFFINE SYMMETRY IN VERTEX MODELS

We study the higher spin analogs of the six-vertex model on the basis of its symmetry under the quantum affine algebra . Using the method developed recently for the XXZ spin chain, we formulate the space of states, transfer matrix, vacuum, creation/ annihilation operators of particles, and local operators, purely in the language of representation theory. We find that, regardless of the level of the representation involved, the particles have spin 1/2, and that the n-particle space has an RSOS type structure rather than a simple tensor product of the one-particle space. This agrees with the picture proposed earlier by Reshetikhin.