Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-condensed-matter-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-1/1/c/solution

Rotate the spin on one sublattice through about its axis, using the unitary product of the corresponding spin-rotation operators. On a rotated site the old components obey , , . Every bond joins opposite sublattices, so
The longitudinal product changes sign. Hence the rotated bond is , giving the requested form. The canonical spin algebra is unchanged because the transformation is unitary. A staggered easy-axis reference configuration is now the uniform all-up state. At one first chooses a Néel direction, here , before performing the same rotation.

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