Lattice model of three-dimensional topological singlet superconductor with time-reversal symmetry

Abstract

We study topological phases of time-reversal invariant singlet superconductors in three spatial dimensions. In these particle-hole symmetric systems the topological phases are characterized by an even-numbered winding number $\nu$. At a two-dimensional (2D) surface the topological properties of this quantum state manifest themselves through the presence of $\nu$ flavors of gapless Dirac fermion surface states, which are robust against localization from random impurities. We construct a tight-binding model on the diamond lattice that realizes a topologically nontrivial phase, in which the winding number takes the value $\nu =\pm 2$. Disorder corresponds to a (non-localizing) random SU(2) gauge potential for the surface Dirac fermions, leading to a power-law density of states $\rho (\epsilon )\sim {\epsilon }^{1/7}$. The bulk effective field theory is proposed to be the (3+1) dimensional SU(2) Yang-Mills theory with a theta-term at $\theta =\pi$.

5 pages, 3 figures

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