Paper detail

Tensor-Network Analysis of Root Patterns in the XXX Model with Open Boundaries

The string hypothesis for Bethe roots represents a cornerstone in the study of quantum integrable systems, providing access to physical quantities such as the ground-state energy and the finite-temperature free energy. While the $t-W$ scheme and the inhomogeneous $T-Q$ relation have enabled significant methodological advances for systems with broken $U(1)$ symmetry, the underlying physics induced by symmetry breaking remains largely unexplored, due to the previously unknown distributions of the transfer-matrix roots. In this paper, we propose a new approach to determining the patterns of zero roots and Bethe roots for the $Λ-θ$ and inhomogeneous Bethe ansatz equations using tensor-network algorithms. As an explicit example, we consider the isotropic Heisenberg spin chain with non-diagonal boundary conditions. The exact structures of both zero roots and Bethe roots are obtained in the ground state for large system sizes, up to ($N\simeq 60$ and $100$). We find that even in the absence of $U(1)$ symmetry, the Bethe and zero roots still exhibit a highly structured pattern. The zero roots organize into bulk strings, boundary strings, and additional roots, forming two dominant lines with boundary-string attachments. Correspondingly, the Bethe roots can be classified into four distinct types: regular roots, line roots, arc roots, and paired-line roots. These structures are associated with a real-axis line, a vertical line, characteristic arcs in the complex plane, and boundary-induced conjugate pairs. Comparative analysis reveals that the $t-W$ scheme generates significantly simpler root topologies than those obtained via off-diagonal Bethe Ansatz.