The low-temperature thermodynamic properties of a spin-\textonehalf{} one-dimensional random anisotropic (Heisenberg-Ising) antiferromagnet described by the Hamiltonian $H=\ensuremath{\Sigma}{i}^{}{J}_{i}({\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{x}^{i}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{x}^{i+1}+{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{y}^{i}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{y}^{i+1}+\ensuremath{\gamma}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{z}^{i}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{z}^{i+1})$ are studied as a function of disorder and anisotropy. The
Ji> 0 are independent random variables obeying a probability distribution
P(J), and $0<~\ensuremath{\gamma}<~\ensuremath{\infty}$. The approach used is a numerical implementation of a real-space renormalization-group (RG) method previously introduced. The isotropic Heisenberg case ($\ensuremath{\gamma}=1$), the
XY case ($\ensuremath{\gamma}=0$). and the Ising case ($\ensuremath{\gamma}=\ensuremath{\infty}$) are fixed points of the RG transformation. It is found that in the
XY region $\ensuremath{\gamma}<~1$, including the Heisenberg point, the system exhibits singular behavior in the thermodynamic properties for arbitrary probability distributions for the couplings. For the
XY limit ($\ensuremath{\gamma}=0$) this is in agreement with known exact results. The functional form for the low-temperature susceptibility is found to be $\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\sim}\frac{1}{(T{\mathrm{ln}}^{m}(\frac{T}{{T}_{0}}))}$ in the entire region $0<~\ensuremath{\gamma}<~1$ for arbitrary probability distributions. In the Ising region ($\ensuremath{\gamma}>1$) the susceptibility shows an approximate power-law divergence for small anisotropy but goes eventually to zero as $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. Possible relevance of these results to recent experiments on Qn
(TCNQ)2 is discussed.
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 $\ensuremath{\gamma}$.
Thermodynamic properties of S=2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains are studied not only under the periodic boundary condition but also under the open one employing a quantum Monte Carlo method. Temperature and size dependences of the energy, the specific heat, and the magnetic susceptibility are calculated and edge effects on them are investigated in detail. The specific heat shows a well-pronounced Schottky anomaly but the maximum is located at a temperature much larger than the Haldane gap of the system. As temperature goes to zero, the magnetic susceptibility vanishes for the periodic chains, while it diverges for the open chains. The edge contribution in the open-chain susceptibility is attributed to the two S=1 effective spins localized at the chain ends at low temperatures, while to an S=2 free spin at high temperatures. This is a visualization of a quantum-classical crossover and an evidence that the present model is a Haldane system. High-temperature behaviors of the thermodynamic quantities are also discussed with the help of a series-expansion method. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Thermodynamic properties of S =1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with free and periodic boundaries are investigated by means of a quantum Monte Carlo method. The specific heat is shown to have a peak at a temperature T peak ∼2Δ, where Δ is the energy gap of the present model, although global shape of the temperature dependence is very similar to the Schottky type specific heat. In open chains, due to the four-fold degeneracy of the ground state, the magnetic susceptibility shows a Curie-like divergence regardless of the number of spins. The extracted diverging part is consistent with the edge moment S =1/2.