Estimating Bethe roots with VQE

Abstract: Bethe equations, whose solutions determine exact eigenvalues and eigenstates of corresponding integrable Hamiltonians, are generally hard to solve. We implement a Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) approach to estimating Bethe roots of the spin-1/2 XXZ quantum spin chain, by using Bethe states as trial states, and treating Bethe roots as variational parameters. In numerical simulations of systems of size up to 6, we obtain estimates for Bethe roots corresponding to both ground states and excited states with up to 5 down-spins, for both the closed and open XXZ chains. This approach is not limited to real Bethe roots.