Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/iii/paper-75/1/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 75 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use spin one-half states with , so and . At , every ferromagnetic bond has its lowest energy when adjacent spins agree. On the connected periodic chain the normalized ground states arewhere . Their span is the two-dimensional ground-state subspace; any normalized superposition is another ground state. They are exchanged by the global spin-flip discrete symmetry generated by .
As , the field dominates and selectsThe limiting polarized state is unique. At large finite , exchange admixes virtual spin flips, so the product state is the limiting wavefunction rather than an exact finite-field eigenstate. The bulk expansion below gives . The exact twofold degeneracy stated at should be distinguished from thermodynamic spontaneous symmetry breaking in the ordered phase: a finite chain at nonzero field can have a split pair of symmetry eigenstates.
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