A nonvanishing spectral gap for AKLT models on generalized decorated graphs

Abstract

We consider the spectral gap question for Affleck, Kennedy, Lieb, and Tasaki models defined on decorated versions of simple, connected graphs G. This class of decorated graphs, which are defined by replacing all edges of G with a chain of n sites, in particular includes any decorated multi-dimensional lattice. Using the Tensor Network States approach from [Abdul-Rahman et al., Analytic Trends in Mathematical Physics, Contemporary Mathematics (American Mathematical Society, 2020), Vol. 741, p. 1.], we prove that if the decoration parameter is larger than a linear function of the maximal vertex degree, then the decorated model has a nonvanishing spectral gap above the ground state energy.