Interrelations among frustration-free models via Witten's conjugation

TL;DR

This paper uses Witten's conjugation to connect and derive frustration-free spin chain models with exact ground states, focusing on $ ext{Z}_p$-symmetric systems including parafermion chains and generalizations of the ANNNI model.

Contribution

It introduces a unified framework using Witten's conjugation to derive and analyze frustration-free spin chains with exact solutions, extending to various $ ext{Z}_p$ symmetries.

Findings

Derived new frustration-free models with exact ground states.

Unified treatment of $ ext{Z}_3$-invariant parafermion chains.

Extended models to $ ext{Z}_4$ and $ ext{Z}_6$ symmetries.

Abstract

We apply Witten's conjugation argument [Nucl. Phys. B 202, 253 (1982)] to spin chains, where it allows us to derive frustration-free systems and their exact ground states from known results. We particularly focus on $\mathbb{Z}_p$-symmetric models, with the Kitaev and Peschel--Emery line of the axial next-nearest neighbour Ising (ANNNI) chain being the simplest examples. The approach allows us to treat two $\mathbb{Z}_3$-invariant frustration-free parafermion chains, recently derived by Iemini et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 170402 (2017)] and Mahyaeh and Ardonne [Phys. Rev. B 98, 245104 (2018)], respectively, in a unified framework. We derive several other frustration-free models and their exact ground states, including $\mathbb{Z}_4$- and $\mathbb{Z}_6$-symmetric generalisations of the frustration-free ANNNI chain.