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Abstract:The string hypothesis of Bethe roots is a cornerstone in the thermodynamic analysis of quantum integrable systems, since it connects root configurations with physical quantities such as the ground-state energy, surface energy and excitation spectra. For integrable models with \(U(1)\) symmetry, this connection is well established. When the \(U(1)\) symmetry is broken by generic non-diagonal boundary fields, however, the off-diagonal Bethe Ansatz leads to an inhomogeneous \(T\text{--}Q\) relation whose Bethe roots have highly nontrivial distributions. This raises two fundamental questions: whether the zero roots and the ODBA Bethe roots still possess regular and classifiable structures in the large-size limit, and whether such structures can be used to extract physical quantities.
In this work, we address these two questions for the isotropic Heisenberg spin chain with non-diagonal open boundaries. By combining tensor-network algorithms with Bethe-Ansatz techniques, we determine the zero-root and Bethe-root configurations associated with the \(\Lambda\text{--}\theta\) relation and the inhomogeneous Bethe Ansatz equations for large system sizes, up to \(N\simeq 60\) and \(100\). We find that, despite the absence of \(U(1)\) symmetry, the roots exhibit well-organized patterns. The zero roots form bulk strings, boundary strings and additional roots, while the ODBA Bethe roots split into four geometric classes: regular roots, line roots, arc roots and paired-line roots.

Submission history

From: Yi Qiao [view email]
[v1] Tue, 30 Dec 2025 12:35:52 UTC (7,914 KB)
[v2] Thu, 28 May 2026 02:06:57 UTC (4,533 KB)