Spin chains viewed as the fermionic parts of supersymmetric quantum mechanical models

This paper shows that (anisotropic) spin chains of XY type arise by matrix representation of the fermionic terms of hamiltonians of quantum systems whose supersymmetry involves in general no more than a single hermitian supercharge. It provides some background relevant to this type of supersymmetry and makes applications to such chains including those which admit quantum groups as invariance algebras. ((orig.))