Linking structures of doubly charged nodal surfaces in centrosymmetric superconductors

Abstract

In topological semimetals and nodal superconductors, band crossings between occupied and unoccupied bands form stable nodal points/lines/surfaces carrying quantized topological charges. In particular, in centrosymmetric superconductors, some nodal structures at the Fermi energy EF carry two distinct topological charges, and thus they are called doubly charged nodes. Here we show that doubly charged nodal surfaces of centrosymmetric superconductors in three dimensions always develop peculiar linking structures with nodal points or lines formed between occupied bands below EF. Such linking structures can naturally explain the inherent relationship between the charge of the node below EF and the two charges of the nodal surfaces at EF. Based on the Altland-Zirnbauer (AZ) -type tenfold classification of nodes with additional inversion I symmetry, which is called the AZ+I classification, we provide the complete list of linking structures of doubly charged nodes in centrosymmetric superconductors. The linking structures of doubly charged nodes clearly demonstrate that not only the local band structure around the node but also the global band structure plays a critical role in characterizing gapless topological phases.

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