Entropy driven formation of a half-quantum vortex lattice

Abstract

Half-quantum vortices (HQVs) can exist in a superconductor or superfluid with an exact or approximate U(1) \times U(1) symmetry, for instance in spinor condensates, 3He-A, Sr2RuO4, and possibly cuprate superconductors with stripe order. In this paper, we show that a lattice of HQVs can be stabilized at finite temperature even when it does not have lower energy than the lattice of full vortices at T = 0 since there is a gain in configurational entropy when a full vortex fractionalizes into a pair of HQVs. Specifically, the lattice of HQVs has an optical branch of phonon modes absent in the lattice of full vortices. Moreover, the HQV lattice at T > 0 can have a different structure than the HQV lattice at T = 0.

12 pages, 2 figures; published version

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Cited by in corpus (12)

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• Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of two-component Bose mixtures with inter-component Josephson coupling
• Vortex lattices in three-component Bose-Einstein condensates under rotation: simulating colorful vortex lattices in a color superconductor
• Skyrmions induced by dissipationless drag in U(1)xU(1) superconductors
• Glass transitions in monodisperse cluster-forming ensembles: vortex matter in type-1.5 superconductors
• Non-Abelian Anyons and Non-Abelian Vortices in Topological Superconductors
• Vortex and disclination structures in a nematic-superconductor state
• Fluctuation effects in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates with broken $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ and $\mathrm{U}(1)\times \mathrm{U}(1)$ symmetries in the presence of intercomponent density-density interactions
• Multiple Half-Quantum Vortices in Rotating Superfluid ${}^3$He
• Thermal fluctuations and vortex lattice structures in chiral $p$-wave superconductors: robustness of double-quanta vortices