On the Spectrum of the XXZ-chain at roots of unity

In a recent paper (cond-mat/0009279), Fabricius and McCoy studied the spectrum of the spin 1/2 XXZ-model at Delta = (q+q^{-1})/2 and q^{2N}=1 for integer N >1. They found a certain pattern of degeneracies and linked it to the sl(2)-loop symmetry present in the commensurable spin sector (N divides S^z). We show that the degeneracies are due to zero-energy, transparent excitations, the cyclic bound states. These exist both in commensurable and incommensurable sectors, indicating a symmetry, of which sl(2)-loop is a partial manifestation. Our approach treats both sectors on even footing and yields an analytical expression for the degeneracies in the case N = 3.Comment: 27 page

Parity-Affected Persistent Currents in Superconducting Nanorings

We argue that at sufficiently low temperatures T superconducting parity effect may strongly influence equilibrium persistent currents (PC) in isolated superconducting nanorings containing a weak link with few conducting modes. For a single channel quantum point contact at T=0 we predict a novel effect of parity-induced blocking of PC. In nanorings with SNS junctions a $\pi$-state can occur for the odd number of electrons. Changing this number from even to odd yields spontaneous supercurrent in the ground state of such rings without any externally applied magnetic flux.Comment: Published versio