We consider the properties of finite isotropic antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with
S=1/2,1,3/2 spins when a weak magnetic field is applied on a few sites, using White's density-matrix renormalization-group method. For the
S=1 chain there exists only one length scale in the system which determines the behavior of the one- and two-point correlation functions both around the local perturbation and near the free boundary. For the critical half-odd-integer spin cases the exponent of the spin-spin correlation function was found to be $\ensuremath{\eta}=1$ and the exponent of the decay of the site magnetization around the perturbed site is ${x}_{m}=\ensuremath{\eta}/2.$ Close to a free boundary, however, the behavior is completely different for
S=1/2 and
S>1/2.Properties of the ground state of open chains of the S=1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet are studied by a quantum Monte Carlo method. Size (length) dependences of the ground-state energy, the energy gap, the staggered magnetization 〈
Siz〉 and the spin-correlation function 〈
S1zSiz〉 are investigated under free, fixed, and periodic boundary conditions. The size dependences are significant in chains with less than 25 spins, where the magnitude of the staggered magnetization is rather large. However, the fourfold degeneracy of the ground state and the exponential decay of correlations that are inherent to the Haldane system are recovered when the chain length becomes long enough. Both the staggered magnetization and the spin-correlation function decay exponentially. The correlation length is about six in lattice spacing, which agrees with the value obtained in the bulk.
Linear Heisenberg antiferromagnets (HAFs) are chains of spin-
S sites with isotropic exchange
J between neighbors. Open and periodic boundary conditions return the same ground-state energy per site in the thermodynamic limit, but not the same spin
SG when $S\ensuremath{\ge}1$. The ground state of open chains of
N spins has
SG=0 or
S, respectively, for even or odd
N. Density-matrix renormalization-group calculations with different algorithms for even and odd
N are presented up to
N=500 for the energy and spin densities $\ensuremath{\rho}(r,N)$ of edge states in HAFs with
S=1, 3/2, and 2. The edge states are boundary-induced spin density waves (BI-SDWs) with $\ensuremath{\rho}(r,N)\ensuremath{\propto}{(\ensuremath{-}1)}^{r\ensuremath{-}1}$ for
r=1,2,...,N. The SDWs are in phase when
N is odd, are out of phase when
N is even, and have finite excitation energy $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}(N)$ that decreases exponentially with
N for integer
S and faster than
1/N for half integer
S. The spin densities and excitation energy are quantitatively modeled for integer
S chains longer than $5\ensuremath{\xi}$ spins by two parameters, the correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}$ and the SDW amplitude, with $\ensuremath{\xi}=6.048$ for
S=1 and 49.0 for
S=2. The BI-SDWs of
S=3/2 chains are not localized and are qualitatively different for even and odd
N. Exchange between the ends for odd
N is mediated by a delocalized effective spin in the middle that increases $|\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}(N)|$ and weakens the size dependence. The nonlinear sigma model ($\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M}$) has been applied to the HAFs, primarily to
S=1 with even
N, to discuss spin densities and exchange between localized states at the ends as $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}(N)\ensuremath{\propto}{(\ensuremath{-}1)}^{N}exp(\ensuremath{-}N/\ensuremath{\xi})$.
S=1 chains with odd
N are fully consistent with the $\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M}$;
S=2 chains have two gaps $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}(N)$ with the same $\ensuremath{\xi}$ as predicted whose ratio is 3.45 rather than 3; the $\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M}$ is more approximate for
S=3/2 chains with even
N and is modified for exchange between ends for odd
N.
One dimensional S = 1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with bond alternation and uniaxial single-ion-type anisotropy are studied by numerical exact diagonalization of finite size systems. We calculate the ground state phase diagram using the twisted boundary condition method for D≥0. The ground states of this model contain the Haldane state, large-D state and the dimer state. Using conformal field theory and the level spectroscopy method, we calculate the D and δ-dependence of the Luttinger liquid paraments K and the critical exponent ν of the energy gap.
One dimensional S =1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with bond alternation and uniaxial single-ion-type anisotropy are studied by numerical exact diagonalization of finite size systems. We calculate the ground state phase diagram using the twisted boundary condition method for D ≥0. The ground states of this model contain the Haldane state, large- D state and the dimer state. Using conformal field theory and the level spectroscopy method, we calculate the D and δ-dependence of the Luttinger liquid paraments K and the critical exponent ν of the energy gap.