338 Ch.

6 Heisenberg Model

- -JIl,l,r). (6.171)
The & I , ~ = - J level is threefold degenerate. Since time reversal symmetry
guarantees that the states IS,S”, k) and IS,-S”, -k) are degenerate, we con-
clude that the level El,frr12 = 0 is sixfold degenerate.
The remaining two states must be singlets. Though it would be quite
straightforward to deal with these using the same representation as before, we
prefer to use Hulthdn’s technique. Re-expressing the Hamiltonian as
J
x4 = -5(Q12 + Q23 + Q34 + &41) + J (6.172)

and using the rules (6.125) and (6.126), it is immediately found that the ground
state is the RVB state

fi
lO,O,O) = -([12][34]+[23][41])
1 =- {*n: 11,
with energy &oo = -2J, while the excited singlet is50
+ (6.173)

10,0,7r) = [12][34]- [23][41] (6.174)

with energy &or = 0. We found the same energy as E l , f n 1 2 . The degeneracy
between a singlet and the triplets is not demanded by symmetry: it is an
accidental feature of the model.
The ground state is not ordered in the Ndel sense, since (O,O, OlS$lO, 0,O) =
0 for j = 1, . . . , 4 . If we wish, we can say that we see the beginnings of AF order
in the correlations: (O,O, OlSfSilO,0,O) = -1/6, and (0,O,OISfS,”IO, 0,O) =
1/12. However, correlations must be isotropic in a singlet state, and indeed
one finds (0, 0, OlSfSzlO,0,O) = -1/6, etc.
The Hamiltonian 3t; has the same symmetries as 3 t 4 and therefore the only
consequence of switching on the next-nearest-neighbour interaction is lifting
the accidental degeneracy.
Problem 6.4. We consider a chain with an even number of sites, and peri-
odic boundary conditions. Using the operators Q introduced in (6.124), the
Hamiltonian can be rewritten as

50The funny-looking normalization factors arise from the non-orthogonality of the

Rumer-HulthCn basis.