Symmetry-Enforced Line Nodes in Unconventional Superconductors

T. Micklitz and M. R. Norman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 207001 – Published 18 May 2017
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Abstract

We classify line nodes in superconductors with strong spin-orbit interactions and time-reversal symmetry, where the latter may include nonprimitive translations in the magnetic Brillouin zone to account for coexistence with antiferromagnetic order. We find four possible combinations of irreducible representations of the order parameter on high-symmetry planes, two of which allow for line nodes in pseudospin-triplet pairs and two that exclude conventional fully gapped pseudospin-singlet pairs. We show that the former can only be realized in the presence of band-sticking degeneracies, and we verify their topological stability using arguments based on Clifford algebra extensions. Our classification exhausts all possible symmetry protected line nodes in the presence of spin-orbit coupling and a (generalized) time-reversal symmetry. Implications for existing nonsymmorphic and antiferromagnetic superconductors are discussed.

  • Received 22 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.207001

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

T. Micklitz1 and M. R. Norman2

  • 1Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rua Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 2Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

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Issue

Vol. 118, Iss. 20 — 19 May 2017

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