A class of asymmetric gapped Hamiltonians on quantum spin chains and its characterization I (Q728484)

A class of gapped Hamiltonians is introduced for finite quantum spin chains. For so-called MPS Hamiltonians a sufficient condition (named injectivity condition) has been found to guarantee the gap. In this setting [\textit{M. Fannes} et al., ibid. 144, No. 3, 443--490 (1992; Zbl 0755.46039)], the bulk ground state is a purely finitely correlated state. Then, in a family of pertinent finite volume Hamiltonians with open boundary conditions, it has been found that so-called edge ground states must be symmetric. In [\textit{S. Bachmann} and \textit{B. Nachtergaele}, ibid. 329, No. 2, 509--544 (2014; Zbl 1296.82020)] the family of gapped models with asymmetric edge ground states was introduced. These models admit the MPS recasting, but then the injectivity condition is no longer valid. The problem addressed in the present paper is to find a new class of MPS gapped Hamiltonians, that would include the previously known cases, but for which the general injectivity condition would prove to be compatible with the existence of asymmetric edge ground states. The paper is Part I of the serial publication, where general ground state structures are investigated. Part II [the author, ibid. 348, No. 3, 897--957 (2016; Zbl 1361.82015)] provides a more detailed characterization of the class of Hamiltonians discussed in the present paper.