Analytic asymptotics of the integrable XXX critical spin chains in the small external-field limit from TBA

Abstract

In this note, inspired partly by the works on the analytic trans-series of free-energies in 2D integrable QFTs in the UV limit, we study the corresponding asymptotic expansions in the IR limit of the integrable XXX spin chains, at the anti-ferromagnetic critical point. Starting from the linear TBA integral equation, we generate the perturbative series in the minimal-scheme coupling constants, up to the first order where the $\zeta_3$ appears. To all perturbative orders, at spin one-half, the perturbative series relates to that of the $\beta^2=8\pi^-$ massive sine-Gordon by a sign flip of the coupling constant, and this relation generalizes for an arbitrary spin, to certain massive deformation of $su(2)_k$ WZW. This relation partially supports the conjectured field-theoretical interpretations of such critical points, at the leading-power $\&\&$ all-logarithmic accuracy. We also compute the perturbative coefficients attached to the first exponentially-small corrections up to the order where $\zeta_3$ appears, in case $s>1$. An interesting feature is that the largest exponentially-small corrections at the locations $h^{2+\frac{2k}{s}}$ are non-vanishing, but the corresponding Borel singularities in the perturbative series are canceled for generic $s>1$, not necessarily integers or half-integers. This becomes most dramatic in the a 't Hooft type large $s$ limit, in which the perturbative series has a finite convergence radius, while these exponentially small corrections still survive.