Nematic Superconductivity and Its Critical Vestigial Phases in the Quasicrystal

Abstract

We propose a general mechanism to realize nematic superconductivity (SC) and reveal its exotic vestigial phases in the quasicrystal (QC). Starting from a Penrose-Hubbard model, our microscopic studies suggest that the Kohn-Luttinger mechanism driven SC in the QC is usually gapless due to violation of Anderson’s theorem, rendering that both chiral and nematic SCs are common. The nematic SC in the QC can support novel vestigial phases driven by pairing phase fluctuations above its Tc. Our combined renormalization group and Monte Carlo studies provide a phase diagram in which, besides the conventional charge-4e SC, two critical vestigial phases emerge, i.e., the quasinematic (QN) SC and QN metal. In the two QN phases, discrete lattice rotation symmetry is counterintuitively “quasibroken” with power-law decaying orientation correlation. They separate the phase diagram into various phases connected via Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions. These remarkable critical vestigial phases, which resemble the intermediate BKT phase in the q state (q≥5) clock model, are a consequence of the fivefold (or higher) anisotropy field brought about by the unique QC symmetry, which are absent in conventional crystalline materials.

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