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Pair density wave (PDW) is an intriguing quantum matter proposed in the frontier of condensed matter physics. However, the existence of PDW in microscopic models has been rare. In this work, we obtain, by Ginzburg-Landau arguments and self-consistent mean field theory, novel $2a_0\times2a_0$ PDW on the kagome lattice arising from attractive on-bond pairing interactions and the distinct Bloch wave functions near the p-type van Hove singularity. The PDW state carrying three independent wave-vectors, the so-called 3Q PDW, is nodeless and falls into two topological classes characterized by the Chern number $C = 0$ or $C = \pm2$. The chiral ($C=\pm2$) PDW state presents a rare case of interaction driven topological quantum state without the requirement of spin-orbit coupling. Finally, we analyze the stabilities and properties of these PDWs intertwining with charge orders, and discuss the relevance of our minimal model to recent experimental observations in kagome superconductors. Our theory not only elucidates the driving force of the chiral PDW, but also predicts strongly anisotropic superconducting gap structure in the momentum space and quantized transverse thermal conductivity that can be tested in future experiments., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

Vortex is a topological defect in the superconducting condensate when a magnetic field is applied to a type-II superconductor, as elucidated by the Ginzburg-Landau theory. Due to the confinement of the quasiparticles by a vortex, it exhibits a circular shaped pattern of bound states with discrete energy levels, as predicted by the Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon theory in 1964. Here, however, we report a completely new type of vortex pattern which is necklace-like in an iron-based superconductor KCa2Fe4As4F2. Our theoretical analysis shows that this necklace-like vortex pattern arises from selective off-shell interference between vortex bound states of opposite angular momenta in the presence of rotational symmetry breaking due to disorders. This fascinating effect can be observed in a system with a small Fermi energy and wave vector, conditions fortuitously met in our samples. Our results not only disclose a novel vortex structure but also provide insights into comprehending the physics of the superconducting condensate., Comment: 29 pages total; 16 pages of main text with 5 figures, 13 pages of supplementary materials with 10 figures

Isotope effect with a large coefficient $\alpha=-\partial \ln T_c/\partial \ln M$ is usually taken as an evidence of phonon mediated superconductors in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. However, in cuprates which are now widely believed to be strong correlation induced d-wave superconductors, $\alpha$ is experimentally observed to be quite small at optimal doping, but keeps growing up with decreasing $T_c$ upon doping, even after exceeding the BCS value $1/2$. Such an anomalous isotope effect seems to challenge the non-phonon picture and still leave room for the phonon-dominated mechanism. In this work, we show that the anomalous dependence of $\alpha$ on $T_c$ can actually be obtained in spin fluctuation induced d-wave superconductors, by studying the Hubbard model on square lattices with functional renormalization group. We have considered two types of electron-phonon couplings (EPCs). The first type couples to electron densities, including the Holstein, breathing and buckling phonons, called Holstein-like. For all these EPCs, $\alpha$ is negative and drops down towards $-\infty$ with decreasing $T_c$ upon doping. On the opposite, for the other type of Peierls-like EPC coupling to electron hoppings on the nearest bonds, also called Su-Schrieffer-Heeger phonon, $\alpha$ is positive, grows up with decreasing $T_c$ and tends to diverge as $T_c\to0$, in qualitative agreement with the experiments. The difference between these two types of EPCs can be understood by their isotope effects on spin fluctuations. From this study, we conclude that the SSH phonon can explain the anomalous isotope effect in cuprates, although it is not the leading pairing mechanism.

The bound states around a vortex in anisotropic superconductors is a longstanding yet important issue. In this work, we develop a variational theory on the basis of the Andreev approximation to obtain the energy levels and wave functions of the low-energy quantized bound states in superconductors with anisotropic pairing on arbitrary Fermi surface. In the case of circular Fermi surface, the effective Schr\"odinger equation yielding the bound state energies gets back to the theory proposed by Volovik and Kopnin many years ago. Our generalization here enables us to prove the equidistant energy spectrum inside a vortex in a broader class of superconductors. More importantly, we are now able to obtain the wave functions of these bound states by projecting the quasiclassical wave function on the eigenmodes of the effective Schr\"odinger equation, going beyond the quasiclassical Eilenberger results, which, as we find, are sensitive to the scattering rate. For the case of isotropic Fermi surface, the spatial profile of the low-energy local density of states is dominated near the vortex center and elongates along the gap antinode directions, in addition to the ubiquitous Friedel oscillation arising from the quantum inteference neglected in the Eilenberger theory. Moreover, as a consequence of the pairing anisotropy, the quantized wave functions develop a peculiar distribution of winding number, which reduces stepwise towards the vortex center. Our work provides a flexible way to study the vortex bound states in the future.

The effects of optical bond phonons coupled to electrons in two-dimensional lattices have attracted much interest recently, with the hope to explore unconventional superconducting mechanism and pairing symmetries. Here we conduct a systematic investigation of such phonon modes in the kagome lattice at and around the upper van Hove filling, in order to unravel new effects of the bond phonons in the presence of the unique sublattice frustration. We combine the singular-mode functional renormalization group and the projector determinant quantum Monte Carlo methods. At the upper van Hove filling and in the absence of the Hubbard interaction $U$, we find there exists an s-wave superconducting state at weaker electron-phonon coupling constant $\lambda$ and higher phonon frequency $\omega$, and a charge bond order (or the valence bond solid) state at larger $\lambda$ and lower $\omega$. The Hubbard interaction $U$ suppresses drastically the s-wave pairing, so that only the charge bond order survives. On the other hand, upon slight doping away from the van Hove filling, we observe that the charge bond order is suppressed due to the breakdown of the perfect Fermi surface nesting, while the superconductivity persists. The s-wave superconductivity and charge bond order may be relevant in the layered kagome superconductors AV$_3$Sb$_5$ (A=K, Rb, Cs).

We study the electronic orders at the lower van Hove filling in the kagome lattice. In the weak limit of the Hubbard interaction $U$ versus the hopping parameter $t$, we find that the system develops itinerant ferromagnetism; In the intermediate range of $U$, we find the system develops noncollinear magnetic order with orthogonal spin moments on nearest-neighbor bonds. This is in fact a Chern insulator supporting quantized anomalous Hall conductance; In the strong $U$ limit, we map the Hubbard model to the $t$-$J$ model with $J = 4t^2/U$. For moderate values of $J$ we recover the noncollinear magnetic order obtained in the Hubbard model. However, in the limit of $J\to 0$ (or $U\to \infty$) we find the ferromagnetic order revives. The results are obtained by combination of the random-phase approximation and functional renormalization group in the weak to moderate limit of $U$, and the variational quantum Monte Carlo for the $t$-$J$ model in the strong coupling limit. The phase diagram is distinctly different to that at the higher van Hove filling studied earlier, and the difference can be attributed to the lack of particle-hole symmetry in the band structure with respect to the Dirac point.

The recent discovery of bulk superconductivity in trilayer nickelate La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ with the critical temperature $T_c$ near $30$K under high pressure is attracting a new wave of research interest, after the breakthrough of bilayer La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ with $T_c$ near $80$K. The similarities and differences of electronic structure and superconducting mechanism in these two systems are urgent theoretical issues. In this Letter, we study the electronic band structure and construct a minimal trilayer tight-binding model for the high-pressure phase of La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ in terms of the nickel $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $3d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbitals, and study the superconducting mechanism due to local Coulomb interactions by the unbiased functional renormalization group. We find antiferromagnetic correlations between the outer layers instead of neighboring ones, apart from the inplane correlations. The effective interaction induces Cooper pairing with the $s_\pm$-wave symmetry, which changes sign across the Fermi pockets. We find $T_c$ in La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ is systematically lower than that in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$, and electron doping can enhance $T_c$., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

In d$_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconductors, the effect of s-wave point disorder has been extensively studied in the literature. In this work, we study the anisotropic disorder with a the form of $V_{kk'}^{\rm imp}=V_if_kf_{k'}$ with $f_k=\cos(2\theta)$ (with $\theta$ the azimuthal angle of $k$), as proposed to be caused by apical oxygen vacancies in overdoped La-based cuprate films, under the Born approximation. The disorder self-energy and d-wave pairing affect each other and have to be solved simultaneously self-consistently. We find the self-energy is reduced at low frequencies and thus weakens the pair-breaking effect. This frequency-dependence vanishes in the dirty limit for which the disorder is well described by a scattering rate $\Gamma_k=\Gamma_if_k^2$. One consequence of the disorder effect is the gap-to-$T_c$ ratio $2\Delta(0)/T_c$ is greatly enhanced by the d-wave disorder, much larger than the s-wave disorder and the clean BCS value $4.28$. At last, we generalize the d-wave scattering rate to a general form $\Gamma_\theta=\Gamma_\alpha|\theta-\theta_0|^\alpha$ around each nodal direction $\theta_0$. We find the density of states $\rho(\omega)-\rho(0)\propto|\omega|$ ($\omega^2$) for all $\alpha\ge1$ ($\alpha<1$) in the limit of $\omega\to0$. As a result, the superfluid density $\rho_s$ exhibits two and only two possible scaling behaviors: $\rho_s(0)-\rho_s(T)\propto T$ ($T^2$) for $\alpha\ge1$ ($\alpha<1$) in the low temperature limit., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

Recently, the bulk nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ is reported to show signature of high-temperature superconductivity under high pressure above $14$GPa [H. Sun et al., Nature 621, 493 (2023)]. We analyze the pairing mechanism and pairing symmetry in a bilayer Hubbard model with two orbitals in the $E_g$ multiplet. In the weak to moderate interaction regime, our functional renormalization group (FRG) calculations yield $S_\pm$-wave Cooper pairing triggered by leading spin fluctuations. The gap function changes sign across the Fermi pockets, and in real space the pairing is dominated by intra-unitcell intra-orbital components with antiphase between the onsite ones. In the strong coupling limit, we develop a low-energy effective theory in terms of atomic one- and two-electron states in the $E_g$ multiplet. The variational treatment of the effective theory produces results consistent with the FRG ones, suggesting the robustness of such a pairing function. The driving force for superconductivity in the strong coupling limit can be attributed to the local pair-hopping term and the spin-exchange on vertical bonds. We also discuss a possible scenario for the weak insulating behavior under low pressures in terms of the tendency toward the formation of charge order in the strong coupling limit., Comment: main text (5 pages, 4 figures); supplementary material (7 pages, 4 figures)

It is necessary to break both time-reversal and parity symmetries to realize a Josephson, or superconducting, diode exhibiting nonreciprocal critical direct-currents (DC). In fact, these conditions are still insufficient. The dependencies of the free energy on the phase difference across the junction and the magnetic field are classified, exhibiting the current-reversion (JR), field-reversion, and field-current reversion conditions, respectively. To exhibit the DC Josephson diode effect, all symmetries satisfying the JR condition need to be broken. The relations of critical currents with respect to the magnetic field are classified into five classes, including three exhibiting the diode effect. These symmetry considerations are applied to concrete examples. Our work reveals that the DC Josephson diode effect is a natural consequence of the JR symmetry breaking, hence, providing a guiding principle to understand or design a DC Josephson diode., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

Studying strong electron correlations has been an essential driving force for pushing the frontiers of condensed matter physics. In particular, in the vicinity of correlation-driven quantum phase transitions (QPTs), quantum critical fluctuations of multiple degrees of freedom facilitate exotic many-body states and quantum critical behaviors beyond Landau's framework. Recently, moir\'e heterostructures of van der Waals materials have been demonstrated as a highly tunable quantum platform for exploring fascinating strongly correlated quantum physics. Here, we report the observation of tunable quantum criticalities in an experimental simulator of extended Hubbard model with spin-valley isospins arising in chiral-stacked twisted double bilayer graphene. Scaling analysis shows a quantum two-stage criticality manifesting two distinct quantum critical points as the generalized Wigner crystal transits to a Fermi liquid by varying the displacement field, suggesting the emergence of a critical intermediate phase. The quantum two-stage criticality evolves into a quantum pseudo criticality as a high parallel magnetic field is applied. In such pseudo criticality, we find that the quantum critical scaling is only valid above a critical temperature, indicating a weak first-order QPT therein. Our results demonstrate a highly tunable solid-state simulator with intricate interplay of multiple degrees of freedom for exploring exotic quantum critical states and behaviors., Comment: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05106-0

We investigate the local moment formation in the half-filled SU($N$) Hubbard model under a staggered ionic potential. As the Hubbard $U$ increases, the charge fluctuations are suppressed and eventually frozen when $U$ is above a critical value $U_c$, marking the development of well-defined local moment with integer $m$ fermions on the A-sublattice and $(N-m)$ fermions on the B-sublattice, respectively. We obtain an analytical solution for $U_c$ for the paramagnetic ground state within the variational Gutzwiller approximation and renormalized mean field theory. For large $N$, $U_c$ is found to depend on $N$ linearly with fixed $m/N$, but sublinearly with fixed $m$. The local moment formation is accompanied by a peculiar phase transition from the band insulator to the Mott insulator, where the ionic potential and quasiparticle weight are renormalized to zero simultaneously. Inside the Mott phase, the low energy physics is described by the SU($N$) Heisenberg model with conjugate representations, which is widely studied in the literature., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

We study the Hubbard model on the square lattice coupled in addition to the optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) phonons, using the singular-mode functional renormalization group method. At half-filling and in the absence of the Hubbard interaction $U$, we find the degenerate spin-density-wave (SDW)/charge-density-wave (CDW)/s-wave superconductivity (sSC) state at smaller electron-phonon coupling strength $\lambda$ and higher phonon frequency $\omega$, and the valence bond solid (VBS) state at larger $\lambda$ and lower $\omega$. After switching on a positive $U$, the VBS state is suppressed, while the SDW state is enhanced. At finite doping, the SSH phonon is found to favor sSC at $U=0$. With increasing positive $U$, we find d-wave superconductivity (dSC) and incommensurate SDW states. In a narrow window of moderate $U$ and $\lambda$, we also find the incommensurate VBS state. The sSC and dSC here can be naturally related to the CDW and SDW fluctuations, both of which can be triggered by the SSH phonons. In contrast, the repulsive interaction $U$ enhances SDW but suppresses CDW fluctuations. Our results at half filling are consistent with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC), and provide insights at finite doping where QMC may suffer from the minus sign problem., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

We design a novel formalism of determinant quantum Monte Carlo method for the half-filled Hubbard model with on-site Hubbard interaction $U$ and nearest neighbor density-density interaction $V$ on the square lattice. The formalism is free of sign problem for $|U|\ge 4|V|$, and is achieved by introducing discrete auxiliary fields on the nearest-neighbor bonds alone. Based on this formalism, we study the ground state phase diagram of the model systematically using the projector algorithm. Within the sign-problem free parameter space $|U|\ge 4|V|$, we obtain antiferromagnetism for $U\ge 4|V|>0$, charge density wave for $U<-4V$ and $V>0$, s-wave superconductivity for $U<0$ and small negative $V$, and phase separation for $U<0$ and a larger negative $V$. We also obtain the single particle gap and spin excitation spectra, and by comparison to mean field results, as well as available literatures, we discuss the possible phase boundary beyond the sign-problem free region. The unbiased numerically exact results can be taken as benchmarks in future studies. Finally, we discuss possible extension for longer-range interactions in the model., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures

We revisit the Hall effect and magnetoresistivity by incorporating the anisotropic scattering caused by apical oxygen vacancies in overdoped La-based cuprates. The theoretical calculations within the Fermi liquid picture agree well with a handful of anomalous magneto-transport data, better than the results using an isotropic scattering rate alone. In particular, we obtain the upturn of Hall coefficient $R_H$ with decreasing temperature $T$, the initial drop of $R_H$ in magnetic field $B$ in all overdoped regimes, the linear resistivity $\rho$ versus $B$ near the van Hove doping level, the temperature dependence of the magnetoresistivity ratio, and the violation of Kohler's law. These results suggest that many of the anomalous transport behaviors in overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ could actually be understood within the Fermi liquid picture., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

In our recent work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 137001 (2002)], we proposed that the apical oxygen vacancies act as anisotropic scattering impurities. Within the Born approximation, this leads to a quasi-particle scattering rate that is maximal (zero) in the antinodal (nodal) direction. This unique angular dependence provides a straightforward mechanism for some puzzling experimental results in overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LSCO) films regarding the superfluid density $\rho_s$ and optical conductivity $\sigma_1$. In a recent comment by H. U. Ozdemir et al. [arXiv:2206.01301], the importance of the nature of the impurity scattering is re-emphasized, but some challenges to our picture are raised: that we did not consider the change of the electrostatic potential for in-plane electrons once the apical oxygen is missing, the change of Fermi surface topology as the van Hove point is passed, self-energy corrections caused by d-wave pairing, and vertex corrections caused by forward scattering. These concerns are interesting but are either irrelevant or further enhances our conclusions. We discuss these points one by one in this reply.

When performing a Monte Carlo calculation, the running time should in principle be much longer than the autocorrelation time in order to get reliable results. Among different lattice fermion models, the Holstein model is notorious for its particularly long autocorrelation time. In this work, we employ the Wang-Landau algorithm in the determinant quantum Monte Carlo to achieve the flat-histogram sampling in the "configuration weight space", which can greatly reduce the autocorrelation time by sacrificing some sampling efficiency. The proposal is checked in the Holstein model on both square and honeycomb lattices. Based on such a Wang-Landau assisted determinant quantum Monte Carlo method, some models with long autocorrelation times can now be simulated possibly., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

There is a hot debate on the anomalous behavior of superfluid density $\rho_s$ in overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ films in recent years. The linear drop of $\rho_s$ at low temperatures implies the superconductors are clean, but the linear scaling between $\rho_s$ (in the zero temperature limit) and the transition temperature $T_c$ is a hallmark of the dirty limit in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) framework [I. Bozovic et al., Nature 536, 309 (2016)]. This dichotomy motivated exotic theories beyond the standard BCS theory. We show, however, that such a dichotomy can be reconciled naturally by the role of increasing anisotropic scattering caused by the apical oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the anisotropic scattering also explains the "missing" Drude weight upon doping in the optical conductivity, as reported in the THz experiment [F. Mahmood et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 027003 (2019)]. Therefore, the overdoped cuprates can actually be described consistently by the $d$-wave BCS theory with the unique anisotropic scattering., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, supplementary materials included

Recent experiments suggest a multi-component pairing function in Sr2RuO4, which appears to be inconsistent with the absence of an apparent cusp in the transition temperature (Tc) as a function of the uniaxial strain. We show, however, that the theoretical cusp in Tc for a multi-component pairing can be easily smeared out by the spatial inhomogeneity of strain, and the experimental data can be reproduced qualitatively by a percolation model. This shed new light on multi-component pairings. We then perform a thorough group-theoretical classification of the pairing functions, taking the spin-orbit coupling into account. We list all 13 types of two-component spin-singlet pairing functions, with 8 of them belonging to the Eg representation. In particular, we find two types of intra-orbital pairings in the Eg representation ($k_xk_z$, $k_yk_z$) are favorable in view of most existing experiments., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables

We study the possibility to realize Majorana zero mode that's robust and may be easily manipulated for braiding in quantum computing in the ground state of the Kitaev model in this work. To achieve this we first apply a uniform [111] magnetic field to the gapless Kitaev model and turn the Kitaev model to an effective p + ip topological superconductor of spinons. We then study possible vortex binding in such system to a topologically trivial spot in the ground state. We consider two cases in the system: one is a vacancy and the other is a fully polarized spin. We show that in both cases, the system binds a vortex with the defect and a robust Majorana zero mode in the ground state at a weak uniform [111] magnetic field. The distribution and asymptotic behavior of these Majorana zero modes is studied. The Majorana zero modes in both cases decay exponentially in space, and are robust against local perturbations and other Majorana zero modes far away, which makes them promising candidate for braiding in topological quantum computing., Comment: 15pages

Recently, several experiments on La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LSCO) challenged the Fermi liquid picture for overdoped cuprates, and stimulated intensive debates [1]. In this work, we study the magnetotransport phenomena in such systems based on the Fermi liquid assumption. The Hall coefficient $R_H$ and magnetoresistivity $\rho_{xx}$ are investigated near the van Hove singularity $x_{\tiny\text{VHS}}\approx0.2$ across which the Fermi surface topology changes from hole- to electron-like. Our main findings are: (1) $R_H$ depends on the magnetic field $B$ and drops from positive to negative values with increasing $B$ in the doping regime $x_{\tiny\text{VHS}}

The isotope effect in the superconducting transition temperature is anomalous if the isotope coefficient $\alpha<0$ or $\alpha>1/2$. In this work, we show that such anomalous behaviors can naturally arise within the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer framework if both phonon and non-phonon modes coexist. Different from the case of the standard Eliashberg theory (with only phonon) in which $\alpha\le1/2$, the isotope coefficient can now take arbitrary values in the simultaneous presence of phonon and the other non-phonon mode. In particular, most strikingly, a pair-breaking phonon can give rise to large isotope coefficient $\alpha>1/2$ if the unconventional superconductivity is mediated by the lower frequency non-phonon boson mode. Based on our studies, implications on several families of superconductors are discussed., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

The electronic structure and possible electronic orders in monolayer NbF$_4$ are investigated by density functional theory and functional renormalization group. Because of the niobium-centered octahedra, the energy band near the Fermi level is found to derive from the $4d_{xy}$ orbital, well separated from the other bands. Local Coulomb interaction drives the undoped system into an antiferromagnetic insulator. Upon suitable electron/hole doping, the system is found to develop $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconductivity with sizable transition temperature. Therefore, the monolayer NbF$_4$ may be an exciting $4d^1$ analogue of cuprates, providing a new two-dimensional platform for high-$T_c$ superconductivity., Comment: 5 pages, 6 color figures

Using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we studied the vortex states of single-layer FeSe film on SrTiO3 (100) substrate, and the local behaviors of superconductivity at sample boundaries. We clearly observed multiple discrete Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon (CdGM) states in the vortex core, and quantitative analysis shows their energies well follow the formula: E = {\mu}{\Delta}^2/E_F, where {\mu} is a half integer and {\Delta} is the mean superconducting gap over the Fermi surface. Meanwhile, a fully gapped spectrum without states near zero bias is observed at [110](Fe) oriented boundary of 1 ML and 2 ML FeSe films, and atomic step edge of 1 ML FeSe. Accompanied with theoretical calculations, our results indicate a s-wave pairing without sign-change in the high-TC FeSe_SrTiO3 superconductor., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, supplementary materials included

We investigate in underdoped cuprates possible coexistence of the superconducting (SC) order at zero momentum and pair density wave (PDW) at momentum ${\bf Q}=(\pi, \pi)$ in the presence of a Neel order. By symmetry, the $d$-wave uniform singlet pairing $dS_0$ can coexist with the $d$-wave triplet PDW $dT_{\bf Q}$, and the $p$-wave singlet PDW $pS_{\bf Q}$ can coexist with the $p$-wave uniform triplet $pT_0$. At half filling, we find the novel $pS_{\bf Q}+pT_0$ state is energetically more favorable than the $dS_0+dT_{\bf Q}$ state. At finite doping, however, the $dS_0+dT_{\bf Q}$ state is more favorable. In both types of states, the variational triplet parameters, $dT_{\bf Q}$ and $pT_0$, are of secondary significance. Our results point to a fully symmetric $\mathrm{Z_2}$ quantum spin liquid with spinon Fermi surface in proximity to the Neel order at zero doping, and to intertwined $d$-wave triplet PDW fluctuations and spin moment fluctuations along with the dominant $d$-wave singlet SC at finite doping. The results are obtained by variational quantum Monte Carlo simulations., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, minor typos removed

We show that a conical magnetic field ${\bf H}=(1,1,1)H$ can be used to tune the topological order and hence anyon excitations of the $\mathrm{Z_2}$ quantum spin liquid in the isotropic antiferromagnetic Kitaev model. A novel topological order, featured with Chern number $C=4$ and Abelian anyon excitations, is induced in a narrow range of intermediate fields $H_{c1}\leq H\leq H_{c2}$. On the other hand, the $C=1$ Ising-topological order with non-Abelian anyon excitations, is previously known to be present at small fields, and interestingly, is found here to survive up to $H_{c1}$, and revive above $H_{c2}$, until the system becomes trivial above a higher field $H_{c3}$. The results are obtained by devoloping and applying a $\mathrm{Z_2}$ mean field theory, that works at zero as well as finite fields, and the associated variational quantum Monte Carlo., Comment: 5 pages, 3 color figures

We investigate the states of triplet pairing in a candidate nematic superconductor versus typical material parameters, using the mean field theory for two- and three-dimensional tight-binding models with local triplet pairing in the $E_u$ representation. In the two-dimensional model, the system favors the fully gapped chiral state for weaker warping or lower filling level, while a nodal and nematic $\Delta_{4x}$ state is favorable for stronger warping or higher filling, with the $d$-vector aligned along the principle axis. In the presence of lattice distortion, relative elongation along one of the principle axes, ${\bf a}$, tends to rotate the nematic $d$-vector orthogonal to ${\bf a}$, resulting in the nematic $\Delta_{4y}$ state at sufficient elongation. Three-dimensionality is seen to suppress the chiral state in favor of the nematic ones. Our results may explain the variety in the probed direction of the $d$-vector in existing experiments., Comment: 5 pages, 4 color figures

We study the momentum-integrated quasiparticle interference (QPI) in the FeSe-based superconductors. This method was recently proposed theoretically and has been applied to determine the pairing symmetry in these materials experimentally. Our findings suggest that, if the incipient bands and the superconducting (SC) pairing on them are taken into consideration, then the experimentally measured bound states and momentum-integrated QPI can be well fitted, even if the SC order parameter does not change sign on the Fermi surfaces. Therefore, we offer an alternative explanation to the experimental data, calling for more careful identification of the pairing symmetry that is important for the pairing mechanism.

Due to the non-trivial topological band structure in type-II Weyl semimetal Tungsten ditelluride (WTe2), unconventional properties may emerge in its superconducting phase. While realizing intrinsic superconductivity has been challenging in the type-II Weyl semimetal WTe2, proximity effect may open an avenue for the realization of superconductivity. Here, we report the observation of proximity-induced superconductivity with a long coherence length along c axis in WTe2 thin flakes based on a WTe2/NbSe2 van der Waals heterostructure. Interestingly, we also observe anomalous oscillations of the differential resistance during the transition from superconducting to normal state. Theoretical calculations show excellent agreement with experimental results, revealing that such a sub-gap anomaly is the intrinsic property of WTe2 in superconducting state induced by the proximity effect. Our findings enrich the understanding of superconducting phase of type-II Weyl semimetals, and pave the way for their future applications in topological quantum computing., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

In many unconventional superconductors, the pairing of electrons is driven by the repulsive interaction, which leads to the sign reversal of superconducting gaps along the Fermi surfaces (FS) or between them. However, to measure this sign change is not easy and straightforward. It is known that, in superconductors with sign reversal gaps, non-magnetic impurities can break Cooper pairs leading to the quasiparticle density of states in the superconducting state. The standing waves of these quasiparticles will interfere each other leading to the quasiparticle interference (QPI) pattern which carries the phase message reflecting also the superconducting gap structure. Based on the recently proposed defect-bound-state QPI technique, we explore the applicability of this technique to a typical iron based superconductor FeTe$_{0.55}$Se$_{0.45}$ with roughly equivalent gap values on the electron and hole pockets connected by the wave vector q_2=(0,\pi). It is found that, on the negative energy side, with the energy slightly below the gap value, the phase reference quantity $|g(q,-E)|\cos(\theta_{q,+E}-\theta_{q,-E}) becomes negative and the amplitude is strongly enhanced with the scattering vector q_2, but that corresponding to the scattering between the electron-electron pockets, namely q_3=(\pi,\pi), keeps all positive. This is well consistent with the theoretical expectation of the s^+- pairing gap and thus serves as a direct visualization of the sign reversal gaps. This experimental observation is also supported by the theoretical calculations with the Fermi surface structure and s^+- pairing gap., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

We use functional renormalization group method to study a three-orbital model for superconducting Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Although the pairing symmetry is found to be chiral $p$-wave, the atomic spin-orbit coupling induces near-nodes for quasiparticle excitations. Our theory explains a major experimental puzzle between $d$-wave-like feature observed in thermal experiments and the chiral $p$-wave triplet pairing revealed in nuclear-magnetic-resonance and Kerr effect., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

The superconducting state is achieved by the condensation of Cooper pairs and is protected by the superconducting gap. The pairing interaction between the two electrons of a Cooper pair determines the superconducting gap function. Thus, it is very pivotal to detect the gap structure for understanding the mechanism of superconductivity. In cuprate superconductors, it has been well established that the superconducting gap may have a d-wave function {\Delta} = {\Delta}_0cos2{\theta}. This gap function has an alternative sign change by every pi/2 in the momentum space when the in-plane azimuthal angle theta is scanned. It is very hard to visualize this sign change. Early experiments for recommending or proving this d-wave gap function were accomplished by the specially designed phase sensitive measurements based on the Josephson effect. Here we report the measurements of scanning tunneling spectroscopy in one of the model cuprate system Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+{\delta} and conduct the analysis of phase-referenced quasiparticle interference (QPI). Due to the unique quasiparticle excitations in the superconducting state of cuprate, we have seen the seven basic scattering vectors that connect each pair of the terminals of the banana-shaped contour of constant quasiparticle energy (CCE). The phase-referenced QPI clearly visualizes the sign change of the d-wave gap. Our results illustrate a very effective way for determining the sign change of unconventional superconductors., Comment: 36 pages, 10 figures

Motivated by the numerical evidence of a continuous phase transition between antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases in the half-filled SU(N) Hubbbard model, we studied its low energy nonlinear sigma model defined on Grassman manifold $U(N)/U(m)U(N-m)$ using the complex projective presentation, which is a direct generalization of the widely studied CP$^{N-1}$ model (corresponding to $m=1$). With the $1/N$ expansion technique up to the first order by fixing $m$ in space dimension $2

In a $d$-dimensional topological insulator of order $d$, there are zero energy states on its corners which have close relationship with its entanglement behaviors. We studied the bipartite entanglement spectra for different subsystem shapes and found that only when the entanglement boundary has corners matching the lattice, exact zero modes exist in the entanglement spectrum corresponding to the zero energy states caused by the same physical corners. We then considered finite size systems in which case these corner states are coupled together by long range hybridizations to form a multipartite entangled state. We proposed a scheme to calculate the quadripartite entanglement entropy on the square lattice, which is well described by a four-sites toy model and thus provides another way to identify the higher order topological insulators from the multipartite entanglement point of view., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

Recent experiments show strong evidences of nematic triplet superconductivity in doped Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and in Bi$_2$Te$_3$ thin film on a superconducting substrate, but with varying identifications of the direction of the $d$-vector of the triplet that is essential to the topology of the underlying superconductivity. Here we show that the $d$-vector can be directly visualized by scanning tunneling measurements: At subgap energies the $d$-vector is along the leading peak wave-vector in the quasi-particle-interference pattern for potential impurities, and counter-intuitively along the elongation of the local density-of-state profile of the vortex. The results provide a useful guide to experiments, the result of which would in turn pose a stringent constraint on the pairing symmetry., Comment: 5 pages, 5 color figures

Cu$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ hosts both topological surface states and bulk superconductivity. It has been identified recently as a topological superconductor (TSC) with an extraordinary nematic, i. e. C2-symmetric, superconducting state and odd-parity pairing. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we directly examine the response of the superconductivity of CuxBi2Se3 to magnetic field. Under out-of-plane fields, we discover elongated magnetic vortices hosting zero-bias conductance peaks consistent with the Majorana bound states expected in a TSC. Under in-plane fields, the average superconducting gap exhibits two-fold symmetry with field orientation; the long C2 symmetry axes are pinned to the dihedral mirror planes under B//=0.5 T but rotate slightly under B//=1.0 T. Moreover, a nodeless {\Delta}4x gap structure is semi-quantitatively determined for the first time. Our data paint a microscopic picture of the nematic superconductivity in CuxBi2Se3 and pose strong constraints on theory., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; reference added, text and figures modified

We report an in situ scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of one-unit-cell (1-UC) FeSe film on SrTiO3(001) (STO) substrate. In quasiparticle density of states, bosonic excitation mode characterized by the "dip-hump" structure is detected outside the larger superconducting gap with energy comparable with phonon and spin resonance modes in heavily electron-doped iron selenides. Statistically, the excitation mode, which is intimately correlated with superconductivity, shows an anticorrelation with pairing strength and yields an energy scale upper-bounded by twice the superconducting gap coinciding with the characteristics of magnetic resonance in cuprates and iron-based superconductors. The local response of tunneling spectra to magnetically different Se defects all exhibits the induced in-gap quasiparticle bound states, indicating an unconventional sign-reversing pairing. These results support the magnetic nature of the excitation mode and possibly reveal a signature of electron-magnetic-excitation coupling in high-temperature superconductivity of 1-UC FeSe/STO.

We have investigated the in-gap bound states (IGBS) induced by a single nonmagnetic impurity in multiband superconductors with incipient bands. Contrary to the naive expectation, we found that even if the superconducting (SC) order parameter is sign-preserving s-wave on the Fermi surfaces, the incipient bands may still affect the appearance and locations of the IGBS, although the gap between the incipient bands and the Fermi level is much larger than the SC gap. Therefore in scanning tunneling microscopy experiments, the IGBS induced by a single nonmagnetic impurity are not the definitive evidences for the sign-changing order parameter on the Fermi surfaces. Our findings have special implications for the experimental determination of the pairing symmetry in the FeSe-based superconductors., Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Commun

Motivated by the success of experimental manipulation of the band structure through biaxial strain in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ thin film grown on a mismatched substrate, we investigate theoretically the effects of biaxial strain on the electronic instabilities, such as superconductivity (SC) and spin density wave (SDW), by functional renormalization group. According to the experiment, the positive strain (from lattice expansion) causes charge transfer to the $\gamma$-band and consequently Lifshitz reconstruction of the Fermi surface. Our theoretical calculations show that within a limited range of positive strain a p-wave superconducting order is realized. However, as the strain is increased further the system develops into the SDW state well before the Lifshitz transition is reached. We also consider the effect of negative strains (from lattice constriction). As the strain increases, there is a transition from p-wave SC state to nodal s-wave SC state. The theoretical results are discussed in comparison to experiment and can be checked by further experiments., Comment: 9 pages, 5 color figures

Using the functional renormalization group, we investigate the electron instability in the single-sheet BC$_3$ when the electron filling is near a type-II van Hove singularity. For a finite Hubbard interaction, the ferromagnetic-like spin density wave order dominates in the immediate vicinity of the singularity. Elsewhere near the singularity the p-wave superconductivity prevails. We also find that a small nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsion can enhance the superconductivity. Our results show that BC$_3$ would be a promising candidate to realize topological $p+ip'$ superconductivity, but the transition temperature is practically sizable only if the local interaction is moderately strong., Comment: 6 pages, 6 color figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1503.00471

The electronic nematic phase is characterized as an ordered state of matter with rotational symmetry breaking, and has been well studied in the quantum Hall system and the high-$T_c$ superconductors, regardless of cuprate or pnictide family. The nematic state in high-$T_c$ systems often relates to the structural transition or electronic instability in the normal phase. Nevertheless, the electronic states below the superconducting transition temperature is still an open question. With high-resolution scanning tunneling microscope measurements, direct observation of vortex core in FeSe thin films revealed the nematic superconducting state by Song \emph{et al}. Here, motivated by the experiment, we construct the extended Ginzburg-Landau free energy to describe the elliptical vortex, where a mixed \emph{s}-wave and \emph{d}-wave superconducting order is coupled to the nematic order. The nematic order induces the mixture of two superconducting orders and enhances the anisotropic interaction between the two superconducting orders, resulting in a symmetry breaking from $C_4$ to $C_2$. Consequently, the vortex cores are stretched into an elliptical shape. In the equilibrium state, the elliptical vortices assemble a lozenge-like vortex lattice, being well consistent with experimental results., Comment: accepted by npj Quantum Materials

Based on recent high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurement in monolayer FeSe grown on SrTiO$_{3}$, we constructed a tight-binding model and proposed a superconducting (SC) pairing function which can well fit the observed band structure and SC gap anisotropy. Then we investigated the spin excitation spectra in order to determine the possible sign structure of the SC order parameter. We found that a resonance-like spin excitation may occur if the SC order parameter changes sign along the Fermi surfaces. However, this resonance is located at different locations in momentum space compared to other FeSe-based superconductors, suggesting that the Fermi surface shape and pairing symmetry in monolayer FeSe grown on SrTiO$_{3}$ may be different from other FeSe-based superconductors.

We apply the recent wavepacket formalism developed by Ossadnik to describe the origin of the short range ordered pseudogap state as the hole doping is lowered through a critical density in cuprates. We argue that the energy gain that drives this precursor state to Mott localization, follows from maximizing umklapp scattering near the Fermi energy. To this end we show how energy gaps driven by umklapp scattering can open on an appropriately chosen surface, as proposed earlier by Yang, Rice and Zhang. The key feature is that the pairing instability includes umklapp scattering, leading to an energy gap not only in the single particle spectrum but also in the pair spectrum. As a result the superconducting gap at overdoping is turned into an insulating pseudogap, in the antinodal parts of the Fermi surface., Comment: with new introduction

The pairing symmetry of the newly proposed cobalt high temperature (high-$T_c$) superconductors formed by vertex shared cation-anion tetrahedral complexes is studied by the methods of mean field, random phase approximation (RPA) and functional renormalization group (FRG) analysis. The results of all these methods show that the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing symmetry is robustly favored near half filling. The RPA and FRG methods, which are valid in weak interaction regions, predict that the superconducting state is also strongly orbital selective, namely the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital that has the largest density near half filling among the three $t_{2g}$ orbitals dominates superconducting pairing. These results suggest that the new materials, if synthesized, can provide indisputable test to high-$T_c$ pairing mechanism and the validity of different theoretical methods., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

We constructed an effective tight-binding model with five Cr $3d$ orbitals for LaOCrAs according to first-principles calculations. Basing on this model, we investigated possible superconductivity induced by correlations in doped LaOCrAs using the functional renormalization group (FRG). We find that there are two domes of superconductivity in electron-doped LaOCrAs. With increasing electron doping, the ground state of the system evolves from G-type antiferromagnetism in the parent compound to an incipient $s_\pm$-wave superconducting phase dominated by electron bands derived from the $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbital as the filling is above $4.2$ electrons per site on the $d$-orbitals of Cr. The gap function has strong octet anisotropy on the Fermi pocket around the zone center and diminishes on the other pockets. In electron over-doped LaOCrAs, the system develops $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconducting phase and the active band derives from the $d_{xy}$ orbital. Inbetween the two superconducting domes, a time-reversal symmetry breaking $s+id$ SC phase is likely to occur. We also find $s_\pm$-wave superconducting phase in the hole-doped case., Comment: 7pages,6figures

We propose to utilize the sub-system fidelity (SSF), defined by comparing a pair of reduced density matrices derived from the degenerate ground states, to identify and/or characterize symmetry protected topological (SPT) states in one-dimensional interacting many-body systems. The SSF tells whether two states are locally indistinguishable (LI) by measurements within a given sub-system. Starting from two polar states (states that could be distinguished on either edge), the other combinations of these states can be mapped onto a Bloch sphere. We prove that a pair of orthogonal states on the equator of the Bloch sphere are LI, independently of whether they are SPT states or cat states (symmetry-preserving states by linear combinations of states that break discrete symmetries). Armed with this theorem, we provide a scheme to construct zero-energy exitations that swap the LI states. We show that the zero mode can be located anywhere for cat states, but is localized near the edge for SPT states. We also show that the SPT states are LI in a finite fraction of the bulk (excluding the two edges), whereas the symmetry-breaking states are distinguishable. This can be used to pinpoint the transition from SPT states to the symmetry-breaking states., Comment: 7 pages, 4+1 figures

Combining the recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements, we construct a tight-binding model suitable for describing the band structure of monolayer FeSe grown on SrTiO$_{3}$. Then we propose a possible pairing function, which can well describe the gap anisotropy observed by ARPES and has a hidden sign-changing characteristic. At last, as a test of this pairing function we further study the nonmagnetic impurity-induced bound states, to be verified by future STM experiments.