AI Article Synopsis

  • The study introduces a general mechanism for achieving nematic superconductivity in quasicrystals, revealing unique vestigial phases.
  • Using the Penrose-Hubbard model, it highlights that superconductivity in quasicrystals typically lacks a gap due to violations of Anderson's theorem, leading to the prevalence of both chiral and nematic superconductivity.
  • The research identifies two critical vestigial phases (quasinematic SC and QN metal) characterized by a distinctive "quasibroken" rotation symmetry, and these phases are connected through Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions, influenced by the quasicrystal's unique symmetry.

Article Abstract

We propose a general mechanism to realize nematic superconductivity (SC) and reveal its exotic vestigial phases in the quasicrystal (QC). Starting from a Penrose-Hubbard model, our microscopic studies suggest that the Kohn-Luttinger mechanism driven SC in the QC is usually gapless due to violation of Anderson's theorem, rendering that both chiral and nematic SCs are common. The nematic SC in the QC can support novel vestigial phases driven by pairing phase fluctuations above its T_{c}. Our combined renormalization group and Monte Carlo studies provide a phase diagram in which, besides the conventional charge-4e SC, two critical vestigial phases emerge, i.e., the quasinematic (QN) SC and QN metal. In the two QN phases, discrete lattice rotation symmetry is counterintuitively "quasibroken" with power-law decaying orientation correlation. They separate the phase diagram into various phases connected via Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions. These remarkable critical vestigial phases, which resemble the intermediate BKT phase in the q state (q≥5) clock model, are a consequence of the fivefold (or higher) anisotropy field brought about by the unique QC symmetry, which are absent in conventional crystalline materials.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.136002DOI Listing

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