Superconducting phase within the hidden-order state of the heavy-fermion material $\mathrm{UR}{\mathrm{u}}_2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{i}}_2$

Abstract

An unconventional pairing mechanism in the heavy-fermion material $\mathrm{UR}{\mathrm{u}}_2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{i}}_2$ is studied. We propose a mixed singlet-triplet $d$-density wave to be the hidden-order state in $\mathrm{UR}{\mathrm{u}}_2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{i}}_2$. The exotic order is topologically nontrivial and supports a charge $2e$ skyrmionic spin texture, which is assumed to fractionalize into merons and antimerons at the deconfined quantum critical point. The interaction between these fractional particles results in a (pseudo)spin-singlet chiral $d$-wave superconducting state, which breaks time reversal symmetry. Therefore, it is highly likely to produce a nonzero signal of the polar Kerr effect at the onset of the superconductivity, consistent with recent experiments. In addition, the nodal structures of the possible pairing functions in our model are consistent with the thermodynamic experiments in $\mathrm{UR}{\mathrm{u}}_2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{i}}_2$.

Version accepted in Phys. Rev. B

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Colloquium: Topological Band Theory
• Chiral Superconductors
• Evidence for broken time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting phase of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Hidden order and beyond: an experimental-theoretical overview of the multifaceted behavior of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Vestigial chiral and charge orders from bidirectional spin-density waves: Application to the iron-based superconductors
• Structure of vortex-bound states in spin-singlet chiral superconductors
• In-plane anisotropic response to the uniaxial pressure in the hidden order state of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Skyrmions in a density wave state: a mechanism for chiral superconductivity
• Phenomenological theory of the superconducting state inside the hidden-order phase of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Unified Theory of Hastatic order and Antiferromagnetism in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$