The Anisotropic Heisenberg Quantum Spin Chain

Abstract

Abstract This chapter introduces the Heisenberg model, a fully quantum mechanical model that describes the magnetism of localized magnetic moments. The one-dimensional version of the Heisenberg model, the Heisenberg quantum spin chain, provides a good picture of magnetic materials that belong to a class of insulating magnetic materials where the interaction of the magnetic moments in one particular direction is much larger than in the perpendicular directions, and which can be described with high accuracy as quasi- one-dimensional magnets. A detailed description of the Heisenberg quantum spin chain is followed by a discussion of its various special cases, in particular the special case of the anisotropic Heisenberg quantum spin chain, the so-called XXZ quantum spin chain. It considers the solution of eigenvalue problem of this quantum spin and leads to Bethe’s conjecture for the wave function.