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We give a recursive method for computing all values of a basis of Whittaker functions for unramified principal series invariant under an Iwahori or parahoric subgroup of a split reductive group G over a nonarchimedean local field F. Structures in the proof have surprising analogies to features of certain solvable lattice models. In the case G=GLr we show that there exist solvable lattice models whose partition functions give precisely all of these values. Here ‘solvable’ means that the models have a family of Yang–Baxter equations which imply, among other things, that their partition functions satisfy the same recursions as those for Iwahori or parahoric Whittaker functions. The R-matrices for these Yang–Baxter equations come from a Drinfeld twist of the quantum group Uq(gl^(r|1)), which we then connect to the standard intertwining operators on the unramified principal series. We use our results to connect Iwahori and parahoric Whittaker functions to variations of Macdonald polynomials.

We construct a family of solvable lattice models whose partition functions include p-adic Whittaker functions for general linear groups from two very different sources: from Iwahori-fixed vectors and from metaplectic covers. Interpolating between them by Drinfeld twisting, we uncover unexpected relationships between Iwahori and metaplectic Whittaker functions. This leads to new Demazure operator recurrence relations for spherical metaplectic Whittaker functions. In prior work of the authors it was shown that the row transfer matrices of certain lattice models for spherical metaplectic Whittaker functions could be represented as ‘half-vertex operators’ operating on the q-Fock space of Kashiwara, Miwa and Stern. In this paper the same is shown for all the members of this more general family of lattice models including the one representing Iwahori Whittaker functions.