Explicit Boundary-Entropy Deficits in the XX Spin Chain with arbitrary boundary fields

Abstract

The exact thermodynamics of the XX spin-1/2 chain with arbitrary Hermitian boundary fields is constructed via fusion techniques. The rigorous result shows that (1) each end with a nonzero transverse field contributes $+\frac12T\ln2$ to the low-temperature free energy, whereas strictly diagonal and free ends contribute no such linear term; (2) each nondiagonal end has a characteristic temperature $T_B$, which scales as $T_B\propto h_\perp^2/J$ in the weak-field regime. For $T\ll\min\{J,T_B\}$, the boundary entropy approaches a deficit of $\frac12\ln2$ relative to a diagonal end. As the transverse field tends to zero, the boundary crossover scale vanishes and the low-temperature expansion becomes nonuniform. The present result provides a clear benchmark not only for the boundary thermodynamics of open boundary quantum integrable systems, but also for dot defects in quantum critical systems.