Gapped quantum systems: from higher-dimensional Lieb–Schultz–Mattis to the quantum Hall effect

Abstract

We consider many-body quantum systems on a finite lattice, where the Hilbert space is the tensor product of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces associated with each site, and where the Hamiltonian of the system is a sum of local terms. We are interested in proving uniform bounds on various properties as the size of the lattice tends to infinity. An important case is when there is a spectral gap between the lowest state(s) and the rest of the spectrum which persists in this limit, corresponding to what physicists call a “phase of matter.” Here, the combination of elementary Fourier analysis with the technique of Lieb–Robinson bounds (bounds on the velocity of propagation) is surprisingly powerful. We use this to prove exponential decay of connected correlation functions, a higher-dimensional Lieb–Schultz–Mattis theorem, and a Hall conductance quantization theorem for interacting electrons with disorder.