New Two-Dimensional Ice Models

This paper presents a new approach for enumerating all hydrogen bond arrangements of ice-like systems with periodic boundary conditions. It is founded on a topological procedure for the dimensional reduction and a new variant of the transfer matrix method based on small conditional transfer matrices. We consider a couple of new two-dimensional ice models on very unusual lattices. One of them is the twisted square ice model with crossing H-bonds. The other is the digonal-hexagonal model with double H-bonds. In spite of their uncommonness, these models are quite realistic, because from the standpoint of combinatorics and topology they are equivalent to the layers of usual hexagonal ice Ih under periodic boundary conditions in one of the directions. The exact proton configuration statistics for a number of 2D-expanded unit cells of hexagonal ice Ih and the residual entropy of the new ice models in the large system limit are presented.