We performed a finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulation of the one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbor interaction coupled to Einstein phonons. Our method allows to treat easily up to 100 phonons per site and the results presented are practically free from truncation errors. We studied in detail the magnetic susceptibility, the specific heat, the phonon occupation, the dimerization, and the spin-correlation function for various spin-phonon couplings and phonon frequencies. In particular we give evidence for the transition from a gapless to a massive phase by studying the finite-size behavior of the susceptibility. We also show that the dimerization is proportional to g2/Ω for T<2J.
Linear chains (and rings) of
S=21 spins with the anisotropic (Ising-Heisenberg) Hamiltonian $\mathcal{H}=\ensuremath{-}2J\ensuremath{\Sigma}\stackrel{N}{i=1}{{{S}_{i}}^{z}{{S}_{i+1}}^{z}+\ensuremath{\gamma}({{S}_{i}}^{x}{{S}_{i+1}}^{x}+{{S}_{i}}^{y}{{S}_{i+1}}^{y})}\ensuremath{-}g\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\Sigma}\stackrel{N}{i=1}\mathrm{H}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}{\mathrm{S}}_{i}$ have been studied by exact machine calculations for
N=2to11, $\ensuremath{\gamma}=0 \mathrm{to} 1$ and for ferro- and antiferro-magnetic coupling. The results reveal the dependence on finite size and anisotropy of the spectrum and dispersion laws, of the energy, entropy, and specific heat, of the magnetization and susceptibilities, and of the pair correlations. The limiting $N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ behavior is accurately indicated, for all $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, in the region
∣J∣kT> 0.5 which includes the maxima in the specific heat and susceptibility. The behavior of thermal and magnetic properties of infinite chains at lower temperatures is estimated by extrapolation. For infinite antiferromagnetic chains the ground-state degeneracy, the anisotropy gap, and the magnetization, perpendicular susceptibility, and pair correlations at
T=0 are similarly studied. Estimates of the long-range order suggest that it vanishes only at the Heisenberg limit $\ensuremath{\gamma}=1$ and confirm the accuracy of Walker's perturbation series in $\ensuremath{\gamma}$.
The one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbour interaction coupled to Einstein phonons is of interest for the understanding of materials which show the spin-Peierls phase transition. I examined this model by performing a finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulation by using the very efficient loop algorithm. I studied in detail the magnetic susceptibility, the specific heat, the phonon occupation, the dimerization, and the spin-spin correlation function of this model for various spin-phonon couplings and phonon frequencies. In particular I gave evidence for a global effective spin-spin coupling and for the transition from a gapless to the massive phase by studying the finite-size behavior of the magnetic susceptibility.