Root patterns and exact surface energy of the spin-1 Heisenberg model with generic open boundaries

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the thermodynamic limit and exact surface energy of the isotropic spin-1 Heisenberg chain with integrable generic open boundary conditions by a novel Bethe ansatz method. We obtain the homogeneous (or two-term) Bethe ansatz like equations for the zero roots of the transfer matrix. Based on the patterns of the zero roots, we analytical calculate the densities of zero roots and the surface energies of the model in all regimes of the boundary parameters.