Disorder-induced fractionalization of pair density waves

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: May-Mann, Julian, Pandey, Akshat, Kivelson, Steven A.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author May-Mann, Julian
Pandey, Akshat
Kivelson, Steven A.
author_facet May-Mann, Julian
Pandey, Akshat
Kivelson, Steven A.
contents We investigate the effects of disorder on a system that in the clean limit is a pair density wave (PDW) superconductor. The charge order of the clean PDW is inevitably lost (via Imry-Ma), but the fate of the superconducting order is less clear. Here, we consider a strongly inhomogeneous limit in which the system consists of a random collection of PDW puddles embedded in a metallic background. When the puddles are dilute, they become phase coherent at low temperatures, resulting in a state that is macroscopically equivalent to a charge-$2e$ $s$-wave superconductor. This can be viewed as an example of ``order parameter fractionalization'' -- the PDW order splits into a charge-2e s-wave superconductor and a charge density wave, the latter of which is destroyed by disorder -- and stands in contrast to the ``vestigial'' charge-4e superconductivity which has been proposed to arise in weakly disordered PDWs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_20435
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Disorder-induced fractionalization of pair density waves
May-Mann, Julian
Pandey, Akshat
Kivelson, Steven A.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Superconductivity
We investigate the effects of disorder on a system that in the clean limit is a pair density wave (PDW) superconductor. The charge order of the clean PDW is inevitably lost (via Imry-Ma), but the fate of the superconducting order is less clear. Here, we consider a strongly inhomogeneous limit in which the system consists of a random collection of PDW puddles embedded in a metallic background. When the puddles are dilute, they become phase coherent at low temperatures, resulting in a state that is macroscopically equivalent to a charge-$2e$ $s$-wave superconductor. This can be viewed as an example of ``order parameter fractionalization'' -- the PDW order splits into a charge-2e s-wave superconductor and a charge density wave, the latter of which is destroyed by disorder -- and stands in contrast to the ``vestigial'' charge-4e superconductivity which has been proposed to arise in weakly disordered PDWs.
title Disorder-induced fractionalization of pair density waves
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Superconductivity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20435