English

Heisenberg spin chain as a worldsheet coordinate for lightcone quantized string

High Energy Physics - Theory 2021-03-17 v2

Abstract

Although the energy spectrum of the Heisenberg spin chain on a circle defined by H=14k=1M(σkxσk+1x+σkyσk+1y+Δσkzσk+1z)H=\frac{1}{4}\sum_{k=1}^M(\sigma_k^x\sigma_{k+1}^x+\sigma_k^y\sigma_{k+1}^y +\Delta\sigma_k^z\sigma_{k+1}^z) is well known for any fixed MM, the boundary conditions vary according to whether M4N+rM\in 4\mathbb{N}+r, where r=1,0,1,2r=-1,0,1,2, and also according to the parity of the number of overturned spins in the state, In string theory all these cases must be allowed because interactions involve a string with MM spins breaking into strings with M1<MM_1<M and MM1M-M_1 spins (or vice versa). We organize the energy spectrum and degeneracies of HH in the case Δ=0\Delta=0 where the system is equivalent to a system of free fermions. In spite of the multiplicity of special cases, in the limit MM\to\infty the spectrum is that of a free compactified worldsheet field. Such a field can be interpreted as a compact transverse string coordinate x(σ)x(σ)+R0x(\sigma)\equiv x(\sigma)+R_0. We construct the bosonization formulas explicitly in all separate cases, and for each sector give the Virasoro conformal generators in both fermionic and bosonic formulations. Furthermore from calculations in the literature for selected classes of excited states, there is strong evidence that the only change for Δ0\Delta\neq0 is a change in the compactification radius R0RΔR_0\to R_\Delta. As Δ1\Delta\to-1 this radius goes to infinity, giving a concrete example of noncompact space emerging from a discrete dynamical system. Finally we apply our work to construct the three string vertex implied by a string whose bosonic coordinates emerge from this mechanism.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2009.13419,
  title  = {Heisenberg spin chain as a worldsheet coordinate for lightcone quantized string},
  author = {Charles B. Thorn},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.13419},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

27 pages, footnote added and typos corrected

R2 v1 2026-06-23T18:51:06.283Z