Spin-operator form factors of the critical Ising chain and their finite volume scaling limits

Abstract

In this work, we provide a self-contained derivation of the spin-operator matrix elements in the fermionic basis, for the critical periodic Ising chain at a generic system length $N\in 2Z_{\ge 2}$. The approach relies on the near-Cauchy property of certain matrices formed by the Toeplitz symbols in the critical model, and leads to a few square-root products for the leg functions. The square root products allow simple integral representations, that further reduce to the Binet's second integral and its generalization by Hermite, in the finite volume scaling limit. This leads to product formulas for the spin operator matrix elements in the scaling limit, providing explicit expressions for the spin-operator form factors of the Ising CFT in the fermionic basis, that were computed iteratively in Yurov:1991my. They are all rational numbers up to $\sqrt{2}$. We also determine the normalization factor of the spin-operator and show explicitly how the coefficient $G(\frac{1}{2})G(\frac{3}{2})$ appear through a ground state overlap. Moreover, by expanding the spin-spin two point correlator in the fermionic basis, we observed a Fredholm determinant identity that allows to show the convergence of the rescaled two-point correlator to the CFT version on a cylinder.