Spin-dynamical calculations on one-dimensional systems have relied heavily on classical ($s=\ensuremath{\infty}$) theories, despite abundant evidence that quantum effects can be extremely important at low temperatures. We present a new approach to the spin dynamics of the one-dimensional isotropic
s=21 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic (HB AF) which does not involve the many-body techniques usually employed. It is based on analytic Bethe ansatz calculations of excitation energies and densities of states combined with finite-chain calculations of matrix elements. An important feature of our method is the use of rigorous selection rules and the introduction of new selection rules, which are valid for macroscopic systems in a magnetic field. We show that in zero field the dynamical two-spin correlation function ${S}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\mu}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ at
T=0 is governed by a two-parameter continuum of spin-wave-type excitations. In nonzero field, the longitudinal component ${S}_{\mathrm{zz}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ and the transverse components ${S}_{\mathrm{xx}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})\ensuremath{\equiv}{S}_{\mathrm{yy}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ behave quite differently because they are dominated by different continua of excitations. The former is characterized by a lowest excitation branch with a zero-frequency mode moving from the zone boundary ($q=\ensuremath{\pi}$) towards the zone center (
q=0) as the field increases, whereas the latter is characterized by a lowest branch with a zero frequency mode moving from $q=0 \mathrm{to} \ensuremath{\pi}$ with increasing field. The first part of our work features an approximate analytic expression for ${S}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\mu}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ at zero temperature and in zero field. Although our expression is not rigorous, exact sum rules are violated only by a small amount, and good agreement exists with the few known exact results. Our studies are extended to nonzero temperatures by placing major reliance on exact finite-chain calculations. Our work was stimulated by recent neutron scattering experiments and is oriented towards experimental comparisons. Our result for the
s=21 integrated intensity is in much better agreement with neutron scattering data on Cu
Cl2\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}2N(
C5D5) (CPC) than the corresponding semiclassical result. Moreover, the spectral-weight distribution in ${S}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\mu}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ shows increasing asymmetry as $q\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\pi}$, a quantum effect, again in agreement with more recent neutron scattering data. The second part of our work deals with the effects of an applied magnetic field. We extend the analytic work of Ishimura and Shiba to obtain expressions for the energies and densities of states of the various excitation continua. It is shown that these continua are expected to give rise to multiple structures in the scattering intensity. Our results appear to be in quantitative agreement with preliminary results of a neutron study in CPC in a field of 70 kOe, revealing anomalous scattering intensity peaks. Our results repeatedly demonstrate the inadequacy of classical spin-wave theory for this problem. They call for additional experimental studies on quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnets to examine other unusual and interesting phenomena predicted by our approach.
The exact expression derived by Bougourzi, Couture, and Kacir for the two-spinon contribution to the dynamic spin structure factor S(q,\ensuremath{\omega}) of the one-dimensional s=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet at T=0 is evaluated for direct comparison with finite-chain transition rates (N\ensuremath{\leqslant}28) and an approximate analytical result previously inferred from finite-N data, sum rules, and Bethe ansatz calculations. The two-spinon excitations account for 72.89% of the total intensity in S(q,\ensuremath{\omega}). The singularity structure of the exact result is determined analytically and its spectral-weight distribution evaluated numerically over the entire range of the two-spinon continuum. The leading singularities of the frequency-dependent spin autocorrelation function, static spin structure factor, and q dependent susceptibility are determined via sum rules. The impact of the non-two-spinon excitations on the integrated intensity, the susceptibility, the frequency moments, and the Euclidian time representation of S(q,\ensuremath{\omega}) is studied on the basis of finite-size data.
Spin-1/2 chains demonstrate some of the striking effects of interactions and quantum fluctuations in one-dimensional systems. The XXZ model has been used to study the unusual properties of anisotropic spin chains in an external magnetic field. The zero temperature phase diagram for this model exhibits a critical or quasi-long-range-ordered phase which is a realization of a Luttinger liquid. While many static properties of spin-1/2 chains have been explained by combinations of analytical techniques such as bosonization and Bethe ansatz, the standard approach fails in the calculation of some time-dependent correlation functions. I present a study of the longitudinal dynamical structure factor for the XXZ model in the critical regime. I show that an approximation for the line shape of the dynamical structure factor in the limit of small momentum transfer can be obtained by going beyond the Luttinger model and treating irrelevant operators associated with band curvature effects. This approach is able to describe the width of the on-shell peak and the high-frequency tail at finite magnetic field. Integrability is shown to affect the low-energy effective model at zero field, with consequences for the line shape. The power-law singularities at the thresholds of the particle-hole continuum are investigated using an analogy with the X-ray edge problem. Using methods of Bethe ansatz and conformal field theory, I compute the exact exponents for the edge singularities of the dynamical structure factor. The same methods are used to study the long-time asymptotic behavior of the spin self-correlation function, which is shown to be dominated by a high-energy excitation.
The recursion method is applied to the T=0 dynamics of the S=1/2 XXZ model on a linear chain and a square lattice. By means of new calculational techniques for the analysis of the continued-fraction coefficients pertaining to specific dynamical quantities, we obtain reliable information on the type of ordering in the ground state, on the size of gaps in the dynamically relevant excitation spectrum, on the bandwidths of dominant structures in spectral densities, on the exponents of infrared singularities, and on the detailed shape of spectral-weight distributions. We investigate some characteristic properties of the dynamic structure factors ${\mathit{S}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}$(q,\ensuremath{\omega}) and the spin autocorrelation functions ${\mathit{S}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}$(\ensuremath{\omega})=${\mathit{N}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ t
sumq${\mathit{S}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}$(q,\ensuremath{\omega}), specifically their dependence on the uniaxial anisotropy, i.e., on the parameter which controls the type of ordering and the amount of quantum fluctuations in the ground state. We find, for example, that the different degrees of ordering in the planar regime of the one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems (criticality versus antiferromagnetic long-range order) have characteristic signatures in the dynamical properties which are conspicuously displayed in our results.
The spin fluctuations parallel to the external magnetic field in the ground state of the one-dimensional (1D)
s=21 Heisenberg antiferromagnet are dominated by a two-parameter set of collective excitations. In a cyclic chain of N sites and magnetization
0<Mz<N/2, the ground state, which contains
2Mz spinons, is reconfigured as the physical vacuum for a different species of quasiparticles, identifiable in the framework of the coordinate Bethe ansatz by characteristic configurations of Bethe quantum numbers. The dynamically dominant excitations are found to be scattering states of two such quasiparticles. For $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{N}\ensuremath{\infty},$ these collective excitations form a continuum in $(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ space with an incommensurate soft mode. Their matrix elements in the dynamic spin structure factor ${S}_{\mathrm{zz}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ are calculated directly from the Bethe wave functions for finite N. The resulting line- shape predictions for $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{N}\ensuremath{\infty}$ complement the exact results previously derived via algebraic analysis for the exact two-spinon part of ${S}_{\mathrm{zz}}(q,\ensuremath{\omega})$ in the zero-field limit. They are relevant for neutron-scattering experiments on quasi-1D antiferromagnetic compounds in a strong magnetic field.
An infinite set of sum rules is derived for the dynamics of one-dimensional quantum spin systems. They are employed to derive valuable information on the spectral-weight distribution in the
T=0 dynamic structure factor ${S}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\mu}}(q, \ensuremath{\omega})$. Applications are presented for various special cases of the nearest-neighbor
XXZ model, including cases with a discrete excitation spectrum and cases with a continuous spectrum. For the
S=21 XY-Heisenberg antiferromagnet, an analytic expression for ${S}_{\mathrm{zz}}(q, \ensuremath{\omega})$ is conjectured which satisfies the infinite set of sum rules. In the
XY limit this expression is identical to the known exact result. A similar conjecture applied to the isotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet with arbitrary spin quantum number
S illustrates how the continuous spectrum of the quantum antiferromagnet collapses into a discrete branch of antiferromagnetic spin waves in the classical limit $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$.