The Fermionic spectrum, phase transition and domain walls of confined $^3$He-A film

ORAL

Abstract

The edge states of a $^3$He-A film are Weyl Fermions propagating on the edge in a direction determined by the chirality of the bulk phase. Under lateral confinement, the wave functions for counter-propagating Weyl Fermions on opposing edges overlap. We show that the edge states hyrbridize and form a band, and the continuum states exhibit band gaps. We report self-consistent calculations of the reduction in the spontaneous edge mass currents due to hybridization as a function of lateral confinement, $D$. Strong lateral confinement leads to a sequence of quantum phase transitions. The A phase undergoes a transition to a pair density wave (PDW) phase with broken translational symmetry at $D_{c_1}\approx 13\xi_0$, and a transition to a polar state at $D_{c_2}\approx 9\xi_0$. The PDW phase for $D < D_{c_1}$ is periodic array of chiral domains separated by domain walls\footnote{Y. Tsutsumi, \textbf{J. Low Temp. Phys.} 175, 2014} with currents that conflict with the direction of edge currents. We report self-consistent calculations of the PDW phase near $D_{c_1}$ that resolves the competition in energy between edge states and Fermions bound to the domain wall. The resulting pattern of circulating currents also resolves the apparent violation of current conser

Authors

  • Hao Wu

    Northwestern University

  • J. A. Sauls

    Northwestern University