Quantum versus classical behavior in the boundary susceptibility of the ferromagnetic Heisenberg chain

Abstract

We calculate the temperature dependence of the boundary susceptibility $\chi_B$ for the quantum ferromagnetic Heisenberg chain by a modified spin-wave theory (MSWT). We find that $\chi_B$ diverges at low temperatures $\sim -T^{-3}$ and therefore more rapidly and with opposite sign than the bulk susceptibility $\chi_{\text{bulk}}\sim T^{-2}$. Our result for $\chi_B$ is identical in leading order with the result for the classical system. In next leading orders, however, quantum corrections to the classical result exist which are important to obtain a good description over a wide temperature range. For the $S=1/2$ case, we show that our full result from MSWT is in excellent agreement with numerical data obtained by the density-matrix renormalization group applied to transfer matrices. Finally, we discuss the quantum to classical crossover as well as consequences of our results for experiment in some detail.