A modified triplet-wave expansion method applied to the alternating Heisenberg chain

An alternative triplet-wave expansion formalism for dimerized spin systems is presented, a modification of the 'bond operator' formalism of Sachdev and Bhatt. Projection operators are used to confine the system to the physical subspace, rather than constraint equations. The method is illustrated for the case of the alternating Heisenberg chain, and comparisons are made with the results of dimer series expansions and exact diagonalization. Some discussion is included of the phenomenon of 'quasiparticle breakdown', as it applies to the two-triplon bound states in this model.