EXCITATION SPECTRUM OF THE SPIN-1/2 FERROMAGNETIC-ANTIFERROMAGNETIC ALTERNATING HEISENBERG CHAIN

The natural explanation of the excitation spectrum of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain is given from the viewpoint of the spin-1/2 ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic alternating Heisenberg chain. The energy spectrum of the latter is calculated with fixed momentum k by numerical diagonalization of finite-size systems. It consists of a branch of a propagating triplet pair (triplet wave) and the continuum of multiple triplet waves for weak ferromagnetic coupling. As the ferromagnetic coupling increases, the triplet wave branch is absorbed in the continuum for small k, reproducing the characteristics of the spin-I antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain.