Stable nodal line semimetals in the chiral classes in three dimensions

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abdulla, Faruk, Murthy, Ganpathy, Das, Ankur
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916081754439680
author Abdulla, Faruk
Murthy, Ganpathy
Das, Ankur
author_facet Abdulla, Faruk
Murthy, Ganpathy
Das, Ankur
contents It has been realized over the past two decades that topological nontriviality can be present not only in insulators but also in gapless semimetals, the most prominent example being Weyl semimetals in three dimensions. Key to topological classification schemes are the three ``internal" symmetries, time reversal ${\cal T}$, charge conjugation ${\cal C}$, and their product, called chiral symmetry ${\cal S}={\cal T}{\cal C}$. In this work, we show that robust topological nodal line semimetal phases occur in $d=3$ in systems whose internal symmetries include ${\cal S}$, without invoking crystalline symmetries other than translations. Since the nodal loop semimetal naturally appears as an intermediate gapless phase between the topological and the trivial insulators, a sufficient condition for the nodal loop phase to exist is that the symmetry class must have a nontrivial topological insulator in $d=3$. Our classification uses the winding number on a loop that links the nodal line. A nonzero winding number on a nodal loop implies robust gapless drumhead states on the surface Brillouin zone. We demonstrate how our classification works in all the nontrivial chiral classes and how it differs from the previous understanding of topologically protected nodal line semimetals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_02966
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stable nodal line semimetals in the chiral classes in three dimensions
Abdulla, Faruk
Murthy, Ganpathy
Das, Ankur
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
It has been realized over the past two decades that topological nontriviality can be present not only in insulators but also in gapless semimetals, the most prominent example being Weyl semimetals in three dimensions. Key to topological classification schemes are the three ``internal" symmetries, time reversal ${\cal T}$, charge conjugation ${\cal C}$, and their product, called chiral symmetry ${\cal S}={\cal T}{\cal C}$. In this work, we show that robust topological nodal line semimetal phases occur in $d=3$ in systems whose internal symmetries include ${\cal S}$, without invoking crystalline symmetries other than translations. Since the nodal loop semimetal naturally appears as an intermediate gapless phase between the topological and the trivial insulators, a sufficient condition for the nodal loop phase to exist is that the symmetry class must have a nontrivial topological insulator in $d=3$. Our classification uses the winding number on a loop that links the nodal line. A nonzero winding number on a nodal loop implies robust gapless drumhead states on the surface Brillouin zone. We demonstrate how our classification works in all the nontrivial chiral classes and how it differs from the previous understanding of topologically protected nodal line semimetals.
title Stable nodal line semimetals in the chiral classes in three dimensions
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.02966