A proof of part of Haldane's conjecture on spin chains

It has been argued that the spectra of infinite length, translation and U(1) invariant, anisotropic, antiferromagnetic spin s chains differ according to whether s is integral or 1/2 integral: There is a range of parameters for which there is a unique ground state with a gap above it in the integral case, but no such range exists for the 1/2 integral case. We prove the above statement for 1/2 integral spin. We also prove that for all s, finite length chains have a unique ground state for a wide range of parameters. The argument was extended to SU(n) chains, and we prove analogous results in that case as well.Work partially supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant PHY80-19754 and by the A.P. Sloan Foundation.Work partially supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant PHY-85-15288.