Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / ii / Paper 4 / 35A / a / Solution

Expanding the trace in the spin basis givesso the transfer matrix for the one-dimensional Ising model reproduces the partition function.

In the ordered basis $s=+1,-1$,Its eigenvalues areSince ${\lambda }_{+}>|{\lambda }_{-}|$ at every positive temperature, the thermodynamic limit gives the Helmholtz free energy per spinThis is an analytic function of $T$ and $B$ for $T>0$, so the one-dimensional short-range Ising model has no finite-temperature phase transition.