Topological Phase Transitions in Multicomponent Superconductors
Name
PhysRevLett.119.187003.pdf
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443.83 KB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Wang, Yuxuan
Fu, Liang
Date Issued
November 2017
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Wang, Yuxuan and Liang Fu. "Topological Phase Transitions in Multicomponent Superconductors." Physical Review Letters 119, 18 (November 2017): 187003 © 2017 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We study the phase transition between a trivial and a time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor in a single-band system. By analyzing the interplay of symmetry, topology, and energetics, we show that for a generic normal state band structure, the phase transition occurs via extended intermediate phases in which even- and odd-parity pairing components coexist. For inversion-symmetric systems, the coexistence phase spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry. For noncentrosymmetric superconductors, the low-temperature intermediate phase is time-reversal breaking, while the high-temperature phase preserves time-reversal symmetry and has topologically protected line nodes. Furthermore, with approximate rotational invariance, the system has an emergent U(1)×U(1) symmetry, and novel topological defects, such as half vortex lines binding Majorana fermions, can exist. We analytically solve for the dispersion of the Majorana fermion and show that it exhibits small and large velocities at low and high energies. Relevance of our theory to superconducting pyrochlore oxide Cd[subscript 2]Re[subscript 2]O[subscript 7] and half-Heusler materials is discussed.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.187003
