Persistence of exponential decay and spectral gaps for interacting fermions (Q1720197)

The authors consider quantum many-body systems of fermions with a Hamiltonian of the form $H=H_0+H_I$, where $H_0$ describes independent particles and $H_I$ is an interaction term which is locally small and has a rapid spatial decay. It is assumed that the corresponding free ferromagnetic system has a ground state separated by a gap from the rest of the spectrum. Under the above-mentioned conditions and if the interaction is sufficiently weak, it is proved that the interacting system has a spectral gap, uniformly in the lattice size.