The absence of finite-temperature phase transitions in low-dimensional many-body models: a survey and new results

After a brief discussion of the Bogoliubov inequality and possible generalizations thereof, we present a complete review of results concerning the Mermin-Wagner theorem for various many-body systems, geometries and order parameters. We extend the method to cover magnetic phase transitions in the periodic Anderson model as well as certain superconducting pairing mechanisms for Hubbard films. The relevance of the Mermin-Wagner theorem to approximations in many-body physics is discussed on a conceptual level.