Decay of transverse correlations in quantum Heisenberg models

Journal article, 2015

We study a class of quantum spin systems that include the S = 1/2 Heisenberg and XY-models and prove that two-point correlations exhibit exponential decay in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. The field is not necessarily constant, it may be random, and it points in the same direction. Our proof is entirely probabilistic and it relies on a random loop representations of the correlation functions, on stochastic domination and on first-passage percolation.