Quantum stabilization in anharmonic crystals

For a model of interacting quantum particles of mass m oscillating in a double-well crystalline field, a mechanism of its stabilization by quantum effects is described. In particular, a stability condition involving m, the interaction intensity, and the parameters of the crystalline field is given. It is independent of the temperature and is satisfied if m is small enough and/or the tunneling frequency is big enough. It is shown that under this condition the infinite-volume free energy density is an analytic function of the external field and the displacement-displacement correlation function decays exponentially; hence, no phase transitions can arise at all temperatures. This gives a complete and rigorous answer to the question about the influence of quantum effects on structural phase transitions, the discussion of which was initiated in T. Schneider, H. Beck, and E. Stoll, Phys. Rev. B 13, 1123 (1976)]].