We consider the Heisenberg spin triangle with general coupling coefficients and general spin quantum number s. The corresponding classical system is completely integrable. In the quantum case the eigenvalue problem can be reduced to that of tridiagonal matrices in at most 2s+1 dimensions. The corresponding energy spectrum exhibits what we will call spectral symmetries due to the underlying permutational symmetry of the considered class of Hamiltonians. As an application we explicitly calculate six classes of universal polynomials that occur in the high temperature expansion of spin triangles and more general spin systems.
We consider the Heisenberg spin triangle with general coupling coefficients and general spin quantum number s. The corresponding classical system is completely integrable. In the quantum case the eigenvalue problem can be reduced to that of tridiagonal matrices in at most 2s+1 dimensions. The corresponding energy spectrum exhibits what we will call spectral symmetries due to the underlying permutational symmetry of the considered class of Hamiltonians. As an application we explicitly calculate six classes of universal polynomials that occur in the high temperature expansion of spin triangles and more general spin systems.
We explicitly calculate the moments t_n of general Heisenberg Hamiltonians up to sixth order. They have the form of finite sums of products of two factors, the first factor being represented by a multigraph and the second factor being a polynomial in the variable s(s + 1), where s denotes the individual spin quantum number. As an application we determine the corresponding coefficients of the expansion of the free energy and the zero field susceptibility in powers of the inverse temperature. These coefficients can be written in a form which makes explicit their extensive character.
Introduction In the limit of zero temperature, the partition function is dominated by the ground state of the system, the free energy becomes equivalent to the ground state energy, and the central object of interest is the Hamiltonian of the system H (λ), dependent in general on one or more parameters λ. A ‘quantum’ Hamiltonian, as noted previously, is one which contains non-commuting operators. Here we concentrate on quantum spin Hamiltonians, of which the prime example is the Heisenberg model. Of particular interest is the possibility of a quantum phase transition , i.e. nonanalytic behaviour as a function of coupling λ. A quantum phase transition may exert a dominating influence on the system over a range of low temperatures above T = 0. Such phenomena have figured prominently in theoretical discussions of experiments on the cuprate superconductors, the heavy fermion materials, organic conductors, and related materials (e.g. Sachdev, 1999). In some cases, a correspondence can be found between a quantum system at zero temperature in 1 time and ( d – 1) space dimensions, and an equivalent classical system at finite temperature in d space dimensions, based on the Feynman path integral formalism – see Chapter 9 and Appendix 8 for further discussions. Under this mapping, the temperature kT in the classical system corresponds to a coupling λ in the equivalent quantum system. If a phase transition occurs, the same universal critical exponents are expected to apply in both cases.
The Heisenberg model, a quantum-mechanical analogue of the Ising model, has a large ground-state degeneracy, due to the symmetry generated by the total spin. This symmetry is also responsible for degeneracies in the rest of the spectrum. We discuss the global structure of the spectrum of Heisenberg models with arbitrary couplings, using group-theoretical methods. The Hilbert space breaks up in blocks characterized by the quantum numbers of the total spin, S and M, and each block is shown to constitute the representation space of an explicitly given irreducible representation of the symmetric group SN, consisting of permutations of the N spins in the system. In the second part of the paper we consider, as a concrete application, the model where each spin is coupled to all the other spins with equal strength. Its partition function is written as a single integral, elucidating its N dependence. This provides a useful framework for studying finite-size effects. We give explicit results for the heat capacity, revealing interesting behavior just around the phase transition.
We compare the excitation spectra in the presence of a magnetic field of a number of integrable (exactly solvable) and nonintegrable quantum spin chains of various spin value s. The archetypal Bethe-ansatz integrable model is the s= 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet (HB AFM). The excitation spectra are characterized by a soft mode which tracks across the Brillouin zone as the field increases to its saturation value. A class of Bethe-ansatz integrable models with SU(2) symmetry and the general spin s display excitation spectra qualitatively similar to the spin- 1/2 model above, for all s. A second class of Bethe-ansatz integrable models has SU(n) symmetry, where n=2s+1. Like the SU(2) integrable chains, these models have gapless excitation spectra, but the basic Brillouin zone changes from k=±2π/(2s+1)a. Studies show that periodicity of the SU(3) member of the class changes (increases) as the field increases to saturation. For both classes of integrable models, there is a single type of excitation pattern which is generically similar for all s. In the case of the other models, on the other hand, numerical studies show that the excitations divide into at least two distinct classes. In the case of the s=1 HB AFM, at high fields (corresponding to SzT=N,N−1, . . .,N/2) the excitations map approximately onto the complete set of excitations for s= 1/2 , whereas at low fields (SzT=N/2,N/2−1,. . .,0) the excitations have notable classical character. In the case of the s=1 model with pure biquadratic exchange, one set of excitations, corresponding to SzT even (SzT=N,N−2,. . .,2,0), again shows an approximate mapping to the complete excitation set for s= 1/2 . The second class of excitations, corresponding to SzT odd, are very different. They are symmetric about k=±π/2a for all SzT, i.e., correspond to a basic Brillouin zone of ±π/2a.
Abstract This chapter is a review of the recently established quantum-classical correspondence for integrable systems based on the construction of the master T-operator. For integrable inhomogeneous quantum spin chains with gl(N)-invariant R-matrices in finite-dimensional representations, the master T-operator is a sort of generating function for the family of commuting quantum transfer matrices depending on an infinite number of parameters. Any eigenvalue of the master T-operator is the tau-function of the classical modified KP hierarchy. It is a polynomial in the spectral parameter which is identified with the 0th time of the hierarchy. This implies a remarkable relation between the quantum spin chains and classical many-body integrable systems of particles of the Ruijsenaars-Schneider type. As an outcome, a system of algebraic equations can be obtained for the spectrum of the spin chain Hamiltonians.
Abstract The irreps ( S U ( 2 ) , H , U ) of SU(2) of dimension (2S + 1)N, i.e. operators acting on the space H = H N = C ( 2 S + 1 ) N of N identical particles with spin S, are described by Clebsch-Gordan decomposition into inequivalent irreps. In the special case S = 1/2, Dirac [1] discovered that there is another rep given by ( S ( N ) , H , V ) where S ( N ) is the permutation group, Thus, the standard “linear” Hamiltonian, or Heisenberg interaction Hamiltonian H 0 = ∑ 1 ≤ i ≤ N S → i ⋅ S → j , where σ → i = 2 S → i is the vector of Pauli matrices, can be interpreted as the sum of the “Exchange Operators” Pij between particles i and j. Schrödinger [3] generalized to higher spin numbers S the Exchange Operator