Ising Chain with a Spin Impurity

Abstract

Consider a closed, linear chain of $N$ localized spins (each $s=\frac{1}{2}$) with nearest-neighbor Ising interaction. Such a chain, exposed to a uniform external magnetic field, will be called the pure host. Replace a single spin in the pure host by an impurity spin which is also subjected to nearest-neighbor Ising interaction and to the external field. The magnitude of the impurity spin, the magnitude of its magnetic moment, and the magnitude and sign of its interaction with the host are allowed to differ from the corresponding values characterizing the host. For the bulk system ($N\to \infty$, for constant linear density of spins), the thermodynamic properties, such as the impurity magnetization, the (position-dependent) magnetization of the impurity-host system and the impurity-host spin correlation functions, are obtained exactly in terms of conventional, tabulated functions. Numerical results are presented for impurity spins of magnitude $S=\frac{3}{2},\frac{5}{2}$.