Linear energy bounds for Heisenberg spin systems

Recently obtained results on linear energy bounds are generalized to arbitrary spin quantum numbers and coupling schemes. Thereby, the class of so-called independent magnon states, for which the relative ground-state property can be rigorously established, is considerably enlarged. We still require that the matrix of exchange parameters has constant row sums, but this can be achieved by means of a suitable gauge and need not be considered as a physical restriction. (author)