Strong and fragile topological Dirac semimetals with higher-order Fermi arcs

Abstract

Dirac and Weyl semimetals both exhibit arc-like surface states. However, whereas the surface Fermi arcs in Weyl semimetals are topological consequences of the Weyl points themselves, the surface Fermi arcs in Dirac semimetals are not directly related to the bulk Dirac points, raising the question of whether there exists a topological bulk-boundary correspondence for Dirac semimetals. In this work, we discover that strong and fragile topological Dirac semimetals exhibit one-dimensional (1D) higher-order hinge Fermi arcs (HOFAs) as universal, direct consequences of their bulk 3D Dirac points. To predict HOFAs coexisting with topological surface states in solid-state Dirac semimetals, we introduce and layer a spinful model of an s–d-hybridized quadrupole insulator (QI). We develop a rigorous nested Jackiw–Rebbi formulation of QIs and HOFA states. Employing ab initio calculations, we demonstrate HOFAs in both the room- (α) and intermediate-temperature (α″) phases of Cd3As2, KMgBi, and rutile-structure ($$ \beta ^{\prime} $$ β ′ -) PtO2.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 31, 2020
Source ID
10.1038/s41467-020-14443-5

Entities

People

  • Andrei Bernevig
  • Barry Bradlyn
  • Benjamin J. Wieder
  • Jennifer Cano
  • Leslie M Schoop
  • Xi Dai
  • Zhijun Wang

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • David and Lucile Packard Foundation
  • Division of Materials Research
  • John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Simons Foundation
  • United States Department of Energy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Mathematical Modeling and Probability Theory.
  • Military Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene