Spinon excitation spectra of the J₁-J₂ chain from analytical calculations in the dimer basis and exact diagonalization

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The excitation spectrum of the frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain is reexamined using variational and exact diagonalization calculations. We show that the overlap matrix of the short-range resonating valence bond states basis can be inverted which yields tractable equations for single and two spinons excitations. Older results are recovered and new ones, such as the bond-state dispersion relation and its size with momentum at the Majumdar-Ghosh point are found. In particular, this approach yields a gap opening at J₂=0.25J₁ and an onset of incommensurability in the dispersion relation at J₂=9/17J₁ [as in S. Brehmer et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 10, 1103 (1998)]. These analytical results provide a good support for the understanding of exact diagonalization spectra, assuming an independent spinons picture.