Non-Linear Sigma Model for Inhomogeneous Spin Chains

Abstract

We derive a non-linear sigma model (NLSM) generally representing antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chains with inhomogeneous spin magnitudes and inhomogeneous nearest-neighbor exchange constants arrayed in finite periods. Only a restriction is that the average of spin magnitudes on one sublattice is the same as that on the other sublattice. The NLSM gives the gapless condition explicitly written by the spin magnitudes and the exchange constants. We apply this gapless condition to several cases including systems with impurities.