This chapter illustrates basic concepts of quantum integrable systems on two important models of statistical physics: the Q-state Potts model and the O(n) model. Both models are transformed into loop and vertex models that provide representations of the dense and dilute Temperley–Lieb algebras. The identification of the corresponding integrable R-matrices leads to the solution of both models by the algebraic Bethe Ansatz technique. Elementary excitations are discussed in the critical case and the link to conformal field theory in the thermodynamic limit is established. The concluding sections outline the solution of a specific model of the theta point of collapsing polymers, leading to a continuum limit with a non-compact target space.
Theta-point polymers in the plane and Schramm-Loewner evolution