Skyrme insulators: insulators at the brink of superconductivity
Abstract
Current theories of superfluidity are based on the idea of a coherent quantum state with topologically protected, quantized circulation. When this topological protection is absent, as in the case of 3He-A, the coherent quantum state no longer supports persistent superflow. In this paper, we argue that the loss of topological protection in a superconductor gives rise to an insulating ground state. Specifically, we introduce the concept of a Skyrme insulator to describe the coherent dielectric state that results from the topological failure of superflow carried by a complex vector order parameter. Here, we apply this idea to the case of SmB6, arguing that the observation of a diamagnetic Fermi surface within an insulating bulk can be understood as a realization of this state. Our theory enables us to understand the linear specific heat of SmB6 in terms of a neutral Majorana Fermi sea and leads us to predict that in low fields of order a Gauss, SmB6 will develop a Meissner effect.
- Authors:
-
- Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States). Center for Materials Theory; Max Planck Society, Dresden (Germany). Max Planck Inst. for the Physics of Complex Systems
- Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States). Center for Materials Theory
- Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States). Center for Materials Theory; Univ. of Lond, Surrey (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Division of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1372443
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1374069
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-114020-2017-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007; R&D Project: PO015; KC0202030; TRN: US1702772
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC00112704; FG02-99ER45790; PHY-1066293; AC02-98CH10886; ac02-98CH10886
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 119; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Citation Formats
Ertem, Onur, Chang, Po -Yao, Coleman, Piers, and Tsvelik, Alexi M. Skyrme insulators: insulators at the brink of superconductivity. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.057603.
Ertem, Onur, Chang, Po -Yao, Coleman, Piers, & Tsvelik, Alexi M. Skyrme insulators: insulators at the brink of superconductivity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.057603
Ertem, Onur, Chang, Po -Yao, Coleman, Piers, and Tsvelik, Alexi M. Fri .
"Skyrme insulators: insulators at the brink of superconductivity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.057603. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1372443.
@article{osti_1372443,
title = {Skyrme insulators: insulators at the brink of superconductivity},
author = {Ertem, Onur and Chang, Po -Yao and Coleman, Piers and Tsvelik, Alexi M.},
abstractNote = {Current theories of superfluidity are based on the idea of a coherent quantum state with topologically protected, quantized circulation. When this topological protection is absent, as in the case of 3He-A, the coherent quantum state no longer supports persistent superflow. In this paper, we argue that the loss of topological protection in a superconductor gives rise to an insulating ground state. Specifically, we introduce the concept of a Skyrme insulator to describe the coherent dielectric state that results from the topological failure of superflow carried by a complex vector order parameter. Here, we apply this idea to the case of SmB6, arguing that the observation of a diamagnetic Fermi surface within an insulating bulk can be understood as a realization of this state. Our theory enables us to understand the linear specific heat of SmB6 in terms of a neutral Majorana Fermi sea and leads us to predict that in low fields of order a Gauss, SmB6 will develop a Meissner effect.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.057603},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 5,
volume = 119,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Aug 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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