One-magnon Bloch states on a ring ($E(q)-E_0=J[1-\cos (qa)]$)

For a periodic spin-one-half Heisenberg model $H=-(J/{\hslash }^2){\sum }_{n=1}^N{\mathbf{S}}_n\cdot {\mathbf{S}}_{n+1}$, $J>0$, the fully aligned state has $E_0=-NJ/4$. In its single-excitation subspace, let $|n⟩$ denote a down spin at site $n$ in an otherwise up background. Direct action of each bond givesThe normalized translation eigenstates are $|q⟩=N^{-1/2}{\sum }_n{e}^{iqna}|n⟩$, with $q=2\pi \ell /(Na)$ modulo $2\pi /a$. Their energy eigenvalues are $E_0+J[1-\cos (qa)]$. This is an exact one-magnon calculation, not a many-magnon harmonic approximation. Near $q=0$ the energy above $E_0$ is $J{a}^2{q}^2/2$.

The wavenumber restriction comes from requiring a periodic plane-wave coefficient pattern, equivalently requiring this vector to be an eigenvector of a one-site translation with eigenvalue $e^{-iqa}$. The identity $T^N=I$ alone imposes no restriction on a general state: it already holds throughout the ring Hilbert space. An arbitrary finite sum with coefficients $e^{iqna}$ still returns after $N$ translations, but need not be a one-site translation eigenstate unless $e^{iqNa}=1$.