Coexistence of itinerant ferromagnetism and a nonunitary superconducting state with line nodes: Possible application to UGe2

Abstract

We construct a mean-field theory for itinerant ferromagnetism coexisting with a nonunitary superconducting state, where only the majority-spin band is gapped and contains line nodes, while the minority-spin band is gapless at the Fermi level. Our study is motivated by recent experimental results, which indicate that this may be the physical situation realized in the heavy-fermion compound UGe2. We investigate the stability of the mean-field solution of the magnetic and superconducting order parameters. Also, we provide theoretical predictions for experimentally measurable properties of such a nonunitary superconductor: the specific heat capacity, the Knight shift, and the tunneling conductance spectra. Our study should be useful for direct comparison with experimental results and also for further predictions of the physics that may be expected in ferromagnetic superconductors.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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