Cycle matrices: A combinatorial approach to the set-theoretic solutions of the Quantum Yang-Baxter Equation

An $n\times n$ matrix $M=[m_{ij}]$ with $m_{ij}\in U_n=\{1,2,\dots ,n\}$ will be called a cycle matrix if $(U_n,\cdot )$ is a cycle set, where $i\cdot j=m_{ij}$. We study these matrices in this article. Using these matrices, we give some recipes to construct solutions, which include the multipermutation level $2$ solutions. As an application of these, we construct a multi-permutation solution of level $r$ for all $r\ge 1$. Our method gives alternate proof that the class of permutation groups of solutions contains all finite abelian groups.