Correlation at low temperature. I: Exponential decay (Q1410555)

The analysis of the correlations for a lattice system of real-valued spins at low temperature is generalized. The former papers have been published by \textit{V. Bach, T. Jecko} and \textit{J. Sjöstrand} in [Ann. Henri Poincaré 1, 59-100 (2000; Zbl 1021.82002)] and by \textit{J. Sjöstrand} in [St. Petersbg. Math. J. 8, No. 1, 123-147 (1997; Zbl 0877.35084)]. Now the analysis is generalized. The Gibbs measure is assumed to be generated by a fairly general Hamiltonian with pair interaction. The novelty is that the single-site self energies of the spins are not required to have only a single local minimum and no other extrema. The derivation of the exponential decay of correlations goes through the spectral analysis of a deformed Laplacian closely related to the Witten Laplacian which has been studied in former works. It is proven that this Laplacian has a spectral gap above zero and it is argued that this implies the exponential decay of the correlations.