Haldane and dimer gaps in general double-spin-chain models

We have obtained an analytic expression for the k-dependence of the excitation energy gap for an arbitrary double S = 1/2 spin chain by using the non-local unitary transformation and the variational method. We check that it explains the gap behaviour of various systems, which include the Haldane system and the dimer system in both extreme limits, and also the ladder model and the Majumdar-Ghosh model. The string order parameter, the dimer order parameter, and the local spin value are also calculated in the ground state. The ground-state energy exhibits a great stabilization by an antiferromagnetic bond dimerization, which might be realized in various new compounds. We also mention the relation of the convergence to the Haldane state with the spin-exchange symmetry of the model. The excited state has one domain wall of a local tripler type except in the vicinity of the Majumdar-Ghosh point, where a local triplet is decomposed into two S = 1/2 free spins moving among the singlet dimers.