We study the ground-state properties of the bond-alternating S=1/2 quantum spin chain whose Hamiltonian is H=
tsumj (
S2jxS2j+1x +
S2jyS2j+1y +\ensuremath{\lambda}
S2jzS2j+1z) +\ensuremath{\beta}t
sumj${\mathbf{S}}_{2\mathit{j}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$\ensuremath{\cdot}
S2j. When \ensuremath{\beta}=0, the ground state is a collection of local singlets with a finite excitation gap. In the limit of strong ferromagnetic coupling \ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}-\ensuremath{\infty}, this is equivalent to the S=1 XXZ Hamiltonian. It has several ground-state phases in the \ensuremath{\lambda}-\ensuremath{\beta} plane including the Haldane phase which has a finite excitation gap above the ground. They are characterized by a full breakdown, partial breakdowns, and a nonbreakdown of the hidden discrete
Z2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
Z2 symmetry. The ground-state phase diagram is obtained by series expansions.
The ground state of the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic alternating spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain is studied with Ising-type anisotropy on the ferromagnetic bond. This model tends to the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with on-site anisotropy in the limit of strong ferromagnetic bond. It is found that the Haldane-gap phase, the large-D phase, and the two types of N\'eel phases appear as the ground state of this model. The duality relations between these four phases are proved for several limiting cases. The string order parameter characterizing the large-D phase is introduced based on these duality relations. The ground-state phase diagram is determined by the numerical diagonalization of the finite-size system.
By using mainly numerical methods, we investigate the ground-state phase diagram (GSPD) of an
S=1 ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic bond-alternating chain with the
XXZ and the on-site anisotropies. This system can be mapped onto an anisotropic spin-2 chain when the ferromagnetic interaction is much stronger than the antiferromagnetic interaction. Since there are many quantum parameters in this system, we numerically obtained the GSPD on the plane of the magnitude of the antiferromagnetic coupling versus its
XXZ anisotropy, by use of the exact diagonalization, the level spectroscopy as well as the phenomenological renormalization group. The obtained GSPD consists of six phases. They are the $XY
1,thelarge−D$ (LD), the intermediate-
D (ID), the Haldane (H), the spin-1 singlet dimer (SD), and the Néel phases. Among them, the LD, the H, and the SD phases are the trivial phases, while the ID phase is the symmetry-protected topological phase. The former three are smoothly connected without any quantum phase transitions. It is also emphasized that the ID phase appears in a wider region compared with the case of the GSPD of the anisotropic spin-2 chain with the
XXZ and the on-site anisotropies. We also compare the obtained GSPD with the result of the perturbation theory.
Ground-state properties of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with bond alternation and uniaxial single-ion-type anisotropy, which is described by the Hamiltonian \({\cal H}_0 = \sum_{\ell=1}^N\{1-(-1)^\ell\alpha\}{\mib S}_\ell\cdot{\mib S}_{\ell+1} + D\sum_{\ell=1}^N\;(S_\ell^z)^2\) (0.0 ≤α≤1.0, -∞< D < ∞), are studied. An exact diagonalization method by means of the Lanczös technique is used. The ground-state phase diagram on the α versus D plane at the thermodynamic limit is determined by analyzing the Binder parameters associated with Néel order and z -direction string order for finite-size ( N = 6, 8, …, 16) chains. It is found that there exists a multicritical point at which the Haldane, Néel, and singlet-dimer phases meet and that the singlet-dimer phase and the large- D phase belong to the same unique phase. The ground-state magnetization curves at the thermodynamic limit for various values of α and D are obtained for the system described by the Hamiltonian, H 0 plus the Zeeman term - H ∑ ℓ=1 N S ℓ z . The results show that the 1/2-plateau appears in the magnetization curve at least when D ≥0.0 and
0.0≲α≤1.0.