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arXiv:2610.27062

Boundary One-Point Functions in the Open XXZ Spin Chain with Generic Integrable Boundaries

Till Bargheer, Tengis Batmunkh, Paul Ryan

Published Oct 19, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We consider the problem of computing observables beyond the spectrum in the open XXZ spin chain with the most generic integrable boundary conditions. For such boundaries, the residual u(1) symmetry is broken and the familiar Baxter TQ equation describing the spectrum becomes inhomogeneous, placing the model outside the realm of existing approaches to correlation functions and form factors. We show that the Functional Separation of Variables method, so far developed mainly for rational, (quasi-)periodic spin chains, is largely insensitive to these modifications, and works equally well for diagonal and generic boundaries. Using this method, we compute exact determinant expressions for a prototypical example of form factors in open-boundary systems, namely the longitudinal and transverse boundary-spin one-point functions in arbitrary Hamiltonian eigenstates at finite system size. No constraint relating the two boundary configurations and no reference state are required. We verify the resulting formulae against direct finite-volume diagonalisation.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2610.27062

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We consider the problem of computing observables beyond the spectrum in the open XXZ spin chain with the most generic integrable boundary conditions. For such boundaries, the residual u(1) symmetry is broken and the familiar Baxter TQ equation describing the spectrum becomes inhomogeneous, placing the model outside the realm of existing approaches to correlation functions and form factors. We show that the Functional Separation of Variables method, so far developed mainly for rational, (quasi-)periodic spin chains, is largely insensitive to these modifications, and works equally well for diagonal and generic boundaries. Using this method, we compute exact determinant expressions for a prototypical example of form factors in open-boundary systems, namely the longitudinal and transverse boundary-spin one-point functions in arbitrary Hamiltonian eigenstates at finite system size. No constraint relating the two boundary configurations and no reference state are required. We verify the resulting formulae against direct finite-volume diagonalisation.
We solve the longstanding problem of defining a functional characterization of the spectrum of the transfer matrix associated with the most general spin-1/2 representations of the six-vertex reflection algebra for general inhomogeneous chains. The corresponding homogeneous limit reproduces the spectrum of the Hamiltonian of the spin-1/2 open XXZ and XXX quantum chains with the most general integrable boundaries. The spectrum is characterized by a second order finite difference functional equation of Baxter type with an inhomogeneous term which vanishes only for some special but yet interesting non-diagonal boundary conditions. This functional equation is shown to be equivalent to the known separation of variables (SOV) representation, hence proving that it defines a complete characterization of the transfer matrix spectrum. The polynomial form of the Q -function allows us to show that a finite system of generalized Bethe equations can also be used to describe the complete transfer matrix spectrum.
Abstract In this paper we continue our derivation of the correlation functions of open quantum spin 1/2 chains with unparallel magnetic fields on the edges; this time for the more involved case of the XXZ spin 1/2 chains. We develop our study in the framework of the quantum separation of variables, which gives us both the complete spectrum characterization and simple scalar product formulae for separate states, including transfer matrix eigenstates. Here, we leave the boundary magnetic field in the first site of the chain completely arbitrary, and we fix the boundary field in the last site N of the chain to be a specific value along the z -direction. This is a natural first choice for the unparallel boundary magnetic fields. We prove that under these special boundary conditions, on the one side, we have a simple enough complete spectrum description in terms of homogeneous Baxter like TQ -equation. On the other side, we prove a simple enough description of the action of a basis of local operators on transfer matrix eigenstates as linear combinations of separate states. Thanks to these results, we achieve our main goal to derive correlation functions for a set of local operators both for the finite and half-infinite chains, with multiple integral formulae in this last case.
This paper is a continuation of [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 55, 405203 (2022)], in which a set of matrix elements of local operators was computed for the XXZ spin-1/2 open chain with a particular case of unparallel boundary fields. Here, we extend these results to the more general case in which both fields are non-longitudinal and related by one constraint, allowing for a partial description of the spectrum by usual Bethe equations. More precisely, the complete spectrum and eigenstates can be characterized within the Separation of Variables (SoV) framework. One uses here the fact that, under the constraint, a part of this SoV spectrum can be described via solutions of a usual, homogeneous, TQ-equation, with corresponding transfer matrix eigenstates coinciding with generalized Bethe states. We explain how to generically compute the action of a basis of local operators on such kind of states, and this under the most general boundary condition on the last site of the chain. As a result, we can compute the matrix elements of some of these basis elements in any eigenstate described by the homogenous TQ-equation. Assuming, following a conjecture of Nepomechie and Ravanini, that the ground state itself can be described in this framework, we obtain multiple integral representations for these matrix elements in the half-infinite chain limit, generalizing those previously obtained in the case of longitudinal boundary fields and in the case of the special boundary conditions considered in [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 55, 405203 (2022)].
In this paper, we consider the quantum XYZ open spin-1/2 chain with boundary fields. We focus on the particular case in which the six boundary parameters are related by a single constraint enabling us to describe part of the spectrum by standard Bethe equations. We derive for this model exact representations for a set of elementary blocks of correlation functions, hence generalising to XYZ the results obtained in the XXZ open case in [1]. Our approach is also similar to the approach proposed in the XXZ case [1] : we solve the model by Sklyanin’s version of the quantum Separation of Variables, using Baxter’s Vertex-IRF transformation; in this framework, we identify a basis of local operators with a relatively simple action on the transfer matrix eigenstates; we then use the solution of the quantum inverse problem and our recent formulae on scalar products of separate states [2] to compute some of the corresponding matrix elements, which can therefore be considered as elementary building blocks for the correlation functions. The latter are expressed in terms of multiple sums in the finite chain, and as multiple integrals in the thermodynamic limit. Our results evidence that, once the basis of local operators is properly chosen, the corresponding building blocks for correlation functions have a similar structure in the XXX/XXZ/XYZ open chains, and do not require any insertion of non-local ”tail operators”.
In this first paper, we start the analysis of correlation functions of quantum spin chains with general integrable boundary conditions. We initiate these computations for the open XXX spin 1/2 quantum chains with some unparallel magnetic fields allowing for a spectrum characterization in terms of homogeneous Baxter like TQ-equations, in the framework of the quantum separation of variables (SoV). Previous SoV analysis leads to the formula for the scalar products of the so-called separate states. Here, we solve the remaining fundamental steps allowing for the computation of correlation functions. In particular, we rederive the ground state density in the thermodynamic limit thanks to SoV approach, we compute the so-called boundary-bulk decomposition of boundary separate states and the action of local operators on these separate states in the case of unparallel boundary magnetic fields. These findings allow us to derive multiple integral formulae for these correlation functions similar to those previously known for the open XXX quantum spin chain with parallel magnetic fields.