  A fascinating conjectural connection between statistical mechanics and
combinatorics has in the past five years led to the publication of a number of
papers in various areas, including stochastic processes, solvable lattice
models and supersymmetry. This connection, known as the Razumov-Stroganov
conjecture, expresses eigenstates of physical systems in terms of objects known
from combinatorics, which is the mathematical theory of counting. This note
intends to explain this connection in light of the recent papers by Zinn-Justin
and Di Francesco.
