English

Hourglass Dirac chains enable intrinsic topological superconductivity in nonsymmorphic silicides

Superconductivity 2026-02-27 v1

Abstract

Nonsymmorphic crystalline symmetries provide a robust route to symmetry-protected electronic topology, yet their role in stabilizing intrinsic topological superconductivity remains largely unexplored. Here, we report \ch{TaPtSi} as a new member of the superconducting nonsymmorphic silicide family, characterized via AC transport, magnetization, heat capacity, and muon spin rotation/relaxation (μ\muSR) measurements. Zero field μ\muSR reveals spontaneous internal magnetic fields below TcT_{\rm c}, establishing time reversal symmetry breaking in \ch{TaPtSi}. First principles calculations on \ch{TaPtSi} and its isostructural nonsymmorphic superconducting analogues reveal the presence of symmetry-protected hourglass dispersions. The "necks" of these dispersions form Dirac nodal rings and chains that reside near or intersect the Fermi level. Guided by Ginzburg Landau symmetry analysis, we identify an internally antisymmetric non unitary triplet pairing state as the unique ground state consistent with the experimental phenomenology. Based on Bogoliubov de Gennes calculations, we further demonstrate that this state supports Majorana surface modes, establishing its intrinsically topological nature. These results reveal a systematic route by which nonsymmorphic symmetry drives the interplay between hourglass Dirac chain topology and unconventional triplet pairing, positioning equiatomic silicides as a unified materials platform for intrinsic topological superconductivity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.22793,
  title  = {Hourglass Dirac chains enable intrinsic topological superconductivity in nonsymmorphic silicides},
  author = {Shashank Srivastava and Dibyendu Samanta and Pavan Kumar Meena and Poulami Manna and Priya Mishra and Suhani Sharma and Prabin Kumar Naik and Rhea Stewart and Adrian D. Hillier and Sudeep Kumar Ghosh and Ravi Prakash Singh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.22793},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

12 pages, 5 figures