Formation probabilities and statistics of observables as defect problems in the free fermions and the quantum spin chains

We show that the computation of formation probabilities (FP) in the configuration basis and the full counting statistics (FCS) of observables in the quadratic fermionic Hamiltonians are equivalent to the calculation of emptiness formation probability (EFP) in the Hamiltonian with a defect. In particular, we first show that the FP of finding a particular configuration in the ground state is equivalent to the EFP of the ground state of the quadratic Hamiltonian with a defect. Then, we show that the probability of finding a particular value for any quadratic observable is equivalent to a FP problem and ultimately leads to the calculation of EFP in the ground state of a Hamiltonian with a defect. We provide new exact determinant formulas for the FP in the generic quadratic fermionic Hamiltonians. As applications of our formalism we study the statistics of the number of particles and kinks. Our conclusions can be extended also to the quantum spin chains that can be mapped to the free fermions via Jordan-Wigner (J-W) transformation. In particular, we provide an exact solution to the problem of the transverse field XY chain with a staggered line defect. We also study the distribution of magnetization and kinks in the transverse field XY chain and show how the dual nature of these quantities manifest itself in the distributions.