Generalized Heine–Stieltjes and Van Vleck polynomials associated with two-level, integrable BCS models

Abstract

We study the Bethe ansatz/ordinary differential equation (BA/ODE) correspondence for Bethe ansatz equations that belong to a certain class of coupled, nonlinear, algebraic equations. Through this approach we numerically obtain the generalized Heine–Stieltjes and Van Vleck polynomials in the degenerate, two-level limit for four cases of integrable Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) pairing models. These are the s-wave pairing model, the p + ip-wave pairing model, the p + ip pairing model coupled to a bosonic molecular pair degree of freedom, and a newly introduced extended d + id-wave pairing model with additional interactions. The zeros of the generalized Heine–Stieltjes polynomials provide solutions of the corresponding Bethe ansatz equations. We compare the roots of the ground states with curves obtained from the solution of a singular integral equation approximation, which allows for a characterization of ground-state phases in these systems. Our techniques also permit the computation of the roots of the excited states. These results illustrate how the BA/ODE correspondence can be used to provide new numerical methods to study a variety of integrable systems.