English

High-throughput screening for Weyl Semimetals with S$_{4}$ Symmetry

Materials Science 2021-02-23 v4 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

Based on irreducible representations (or symmetry eigenvalues) and compatibility relations, a material can be predicted to be a topological/trivial insulator [satisfying compatibility relations] or a topological semimetal [violating compatibility relations]. However, Weyl semimetals usually go beyond this symmetry-based strategy. In other words, Weyl nodes could emerge in a material, no matter if its occupied bands satisfy compatibility relations, or if the symmetry indicators are zero. In this work, we propose a new topological invariant χ\chi for the systems with S4_4 symmetry [i.e., the improper rotation S4_4 (\equiv IC4z_{4z}) is a proper four-fold rotation (C4z_{4z}) followed by inversion (I)], which can be used to diagnose the Weyl semimetal phase. Moreover, χ\chi can be easily computed through the one-dimensional Wilson-loop technique. By applying this method to the high-throughput screening in first-principles calculations, we predict a lot of Weyl semimetals in both nonmagnetic and magnetic compounds. Various interesting properties (e.g. magnetic frustration effects, superconductivity and spin-glass order, etc.) are found in predicted Weyl semimetals, which provide realistic platforms for future experimental study of the interplay between Weyl fermions and other exotic states.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2004.09489,
  title  = {High-throughput screening for Weyl Semimetals with S$_{4}$ Symmetry},
  author = {Jiacheng Gao and Yuting Qian and Simin Nie and Zhong Fang and Hongming Weng and Zhijun Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.09489},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

9 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables