Existence of Phase Transitions for Anisotropic Heisenberg Models

Abstract

The two-dimensional anisotropic, nearest-neighbor Heisenberg model on a square lattice, both quantum and classical, has been shown regorously to have a phase transition in the sense that the spontaneous magnetization is positive at low temperatures. This is so for all anisotropies. An analogous result (staggered polarization) holds for the antiferromagnet in the classical case; in the quantum case it holds if the anisotropy is large enough (depending on the single-site spin).