arXiv subjects

Motoaki Hirayama

Publications and source records attributed to Motoaki Hirayama.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Unconventional full-gap superconductivity in Kondo lattice with semi-metallic conduction bands

A mechanism of superconductivity is proposed for the Kondo lattice which has semi-metallic conduction bands with electron and hole Fermi surfaces. At high temperatures, the $f$ electron's localized spins/pseudospins are fluctuating between electron and hole Fermi surfaces to seek for a partner to couple with. This system tries to resolve this frustration at low temperatures and chooses to construct a quantum mechanically entangled state composed of the Kondo singlet with electron surface and that with hole surface, to break the U(1) gauge symmetry. The corresponding order parameter is given by a composite pairing amplitude as a three-body bound states of localized spin/pseudospin, electron and hole. The electromagnetic response is considered, where composite pair itself does not contribute to the Meissner effect, but the induced pair between conduction electrons, which inevitably mixes due to e.g. a band cutoff effect at high energies, carries the superconducting current under the external field. Possible applications to real heavy-electron materials are also discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Effective Hamiltonian for cuprate superconductors derived from multi-scale ab initio scheme with level renormalization

Three-types (three-band, two-band and one-band) of effective Hamiltonians for the HgBa$_2$CuO$_4$ and three-band effective Hamiltonian for La$_2$CuO$_4$ are derived beyond the level of the constrained-GW approximation combined with the self-interaction correction (cGW-SIC) derived in Hirayama et al. Phys. Rev. B 98, 134501 (2018) by improving the treatment of the interband Hartree energy. The charge gap and antiferromagnetic ordered moment show good agreement with the experimental results when the present effective Hamiltonian is solved, indicating the importance of the present refinement. The obtained Hamiltonians will serve to clarify the electronic structures of these copper oxide superconductors and to elucidate the superconducting mechanism.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Phonon Angular Momentum Induced by Temperature Gradient

Phonon modes in crystals can have angular momenta in general. It nevertheless cancels in equilibrium when the time-reversal symmetry is preserved. In this paper we show that when a temperature gradient is applied and heat current flows in the crystal, the phonon distribution becomes off-equilibrium, and a finite angular momentum is generated by the heat current. This mechanism is analogous to the Edelstein effect in electronic systems. This effect requires crystals with sufficiently low crystallographic symmetries, such as polar or chiral crystal structures. Because of the positive charges of the nuclei, this phonon angular momentum induces magnetization. In addition, when the crystal can freely rotate, this generated phonon angular momentum is converted to a rigidbody rotation of the crystal, due to the conservation of the total angular momentum. Furthermore, in metallic crystals, the phonon angular momentum will be partially converted into spin angular momentum of electrons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Electrides as a New Platform of Topological Materials

Recent discoveries of topological phases realized in electronic states in solids have revealed an important role of topology, which ubiquitously appears in various materials in nature. Many well-known materials have turned out to be topological materials, and this new viewpoint of topology has opened a new horizon in material science. In this paper we find that electrides are suitable for achieving various topological phases, including topological insulating and topological semimetal phases. In the electrides, in which electrons serve as anions, the bands occupied by the anionic electrons lie near the Fermi level, because the anionic electrons are weakly bound by the lattice. This property of the electrides is favorable for achieving band inversions needed for topological phases, and thus the electrides are prone to topological phases. From such a point of view, we find many topological electrides, Y$_2$C (nodal-line semimetal (NLS)), Sc$_2$C (insulator with $π$ Zak phase), Sr$_2$Bi (NLS), HfBr (quantum spin Hall system), and LaBr (quantum anomalous Hall insulator), by using ab initio calculation. The close relationship between the electrides and the topological materials is useful in material science in both fields.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Topological semimetals studied by ab initio calculations

In topological semimetals such as Weyl, Dirac, and nodal-line semimetals, the band gap closes at points or along lines in k space which are not necessarily located at high-symmetry positions in the Brillouin zone. Therefore, it is not straightforward to find these topological semimetals by ab initio calculations because the band structure is usually calculated only along high-symmetry lines. In this paper, we review recent studies on topological semimetals by ab initio calculations. We explain theoretical frameworks which can be used for the search for topological semimetal materials, and some numerical methods used in the ab initio calculations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Spinless hourglass nodal-line semimetals

Nodal-line semimetals, one of the topological semimetals, have degeneracy along nodal lines where the band gap is closed. In many cases, the nodal lines appear accidentally, and in such cases it is impossible to determine whether the nodal lines appear or not, only from the crystal symmetry and the electron filling. In this paper, for spinless systems, we show that in specific space groups at $4N+2$ fillings ($8N+4$ fillings including the spin degree of freedom), presence of the nodal lines is required regardless of the details of the systems. Here, the spinless systems refer to crystals where the spin-orbit coupling is negligible and the spin degree of freedom can be omitted because of the SU(2) spin degeneracy. In this case the shape of the band structure around these nodal lines is like an hourglass, and we call this a spinless hourglass nodal-line semimetal. We construct a model Hamiltonian as an example and we show that it is always in the spinless hourglass nodal-line semimetal phase even when the model parameters are changed without changing the symmetries of the system. We also establish a list of all the centrosymmetric space groups, under which spinless systems always have hourglass nodal lines, and illustrate where the nodal lines are located. We propose that Al$_3$FeSi$_2$, whose space-group symmetry is Pbcn (No. 60), is one of the nodal-line semimetals arising from this mechanism.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Ab initio effective Hamiltonians for cuprate superconductors

Ab initio low-energy effective Hamiltonians of two typical high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors, whose mother compounds are La$_2$CuO$_4$ and HgBa$_2$CuO$_4$, are derived by utilizing the multi-scale ab initio scheme for correlated electrons (MACE). The effective Hamiltonians obtained in the present study serve as platforms of future studies to accurately solve the low-energy effective Hamiltonians beyond the density functional theory. It allows further study on the superconducting mechanism from the first principles and quantitative basis without adjustable parameters not only for the available cuprates but also for future design of higher Tc in general. More concretely, we derive effective Hamiltonians for three variations, 1)one-band Hamiltonian for the antibonding orbital generated from strongly hybridized Cu $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ and O $2p_σ$ orbitals 2)two-band Hamiltonian constructed from the antibonding orbital and Cu $3d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbital hybridized mainly with the apex oxygen $p_z$ orbital 3)three-band Hamiltonian consisting mainly of Cu $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbitals and two O $2p_σ$ orbitals. Differences between the Hamiltonians for La$_2$CuO$_4$ and HgBa$_2$CuO$_4$, which have relatively low and high critical temperatures, respectively, at optimally doped compounds, are elucidated. The main differences are summarized as i) the oxygen $2p_σ$ orbitals are farther(~3.7eV) below from the Cu $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital for the La compound than the Hg compound(~2.4eV) in the three-band Hamiltonian. This causes a substantial difference in the character of the $d_{x^2-y^2}-2p_σ$ antibonding band at the Fermi level and makes the effective onsite Coulomb interaction U larger for the La compound than the Hg compound for the two- and one-band Hamiltonians. ii)The ratio of the second-neighbor to the nearest transfer t'/t is also substantially different (~0.26) for the Hg and ~0.15 for the La compound in the one-band Hamiltonian.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Topological Dirac Nodal Lines and Surface Charges in fcc Alkaline Earth Metals

In nodal-line semimetals, the gaps close along loops in ${\bf k}$ space, which are not at high-symmetry points. Typical mechanisms for the emergence of nodal lines involve mirror symmetry and the $π$ Berry phase. Here, we show via ab initio calculations that fcc calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr) and ytterbium (Yb) have topological nodal lines with the $π$ Berry phase near the Fermi level, when spin-orbit interaction is neglected. In particular, Ca becomes a nodal-line semimetal at high pressure. Owing to nodal lines, the Zak phase becomes either $π$ or 0 depending on the wavavector ${\bf k}$, and the $π$ Zak phase leads to surface polarization charge. Carriers eventually screen it, leaving behind large surface dipoles. In materials with nodal lines, both the large surface polarization charge and the emergent drumhead surface states enhance Rashba splitting when heavy adatoms are present, as we have shown to occur in Bi/Sr(111) and in Bi/Ag(111).

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Emergence of topological semimetals in gap closing in semiconductors without inversion symmetry

A band gap for electronic states in crystals governs various properties of solids, such as transport, optical and magnetic properties. Its estimation and control have been an important issue in solid state physics. The band gap can be controlled externally by various parameters, such as pressure, atomic compositions and external field. Sometimes, the gap even collapses by tuning some parameter. In the field of topological insulators, such closing of the gap at a time-reversal invariant momentum indicates a band inversion, i.e. it leads to a topological phase transition from a normal insulator to a topological insulator. Here we show that the gap losing in inversion-asymmetric crystals is universal, in the sense that the gap closing always leads either to a Weyl semimetal or a nodal-line semimetal, from an exhaustive study on possible space groups. We here consider three-dimensional spinful systems with time-reversal symmetry. The space group of the system and the wavevector at the gap closing uniquely determine which possibility occurs and where the gap-closing points or lines lie in the wavevector space after closing of the gap. In particular, we show that an insulator-to-insulator transition never happens, which is in sharp contrast with inversion-symmetric systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Low-energy effective Hamiltonians for correlated electron systems beyond density functional theory

We propose a refined scheme of deriving an effective low-energy Hamiltonian for materials with strong electronic Coulomb correlations beyond density functional theory (DFT). By tracing out the electronic states away from the target degrees of freedom in a controlled way by a perturbative scheme we construct an effective model for a restricted low-energy target space incorporating the effects of high-energy degrees of freedom in an effective manner. The resulting effective model can afterwards be solved by accurate many-body solvers. We improve this "multi-scale ab initio scheme for correlated electrons" (MACE) primarily in two directions: (1) Double counting of electronic correlations between the DFT and the low-energy solver is avoided by using the constrained GW scheme. (2) The frequency dependence of the interaction emerging from the partial trace summation is taken into account as a renormalization to the low-energy dispersion. The scheme is successfully tested on the example of SrVO3. Our work opens unexplored ways to understanding the electronic structure of strongly correlated systems beyond current DFT methods.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Ab initio Studies of Magnetism in the Iron Chalcogenides FeTe and FeSe

The iron chalcogenides FeTe and FeSe belong to the family of iron-based superconductors. We study the magnetism in these compounds in the normal state using the ab initio downfolding scheme developed for strongly correlated electron systems. In deriving ab initio low-energy effective models, we employ the constrained GW method to eliminate the double counting of electron correlations originating from the exchange correlations already taken into account in the density functional theory. By solving the derived ab initio effective models, we reveal that the elimination of the double counting is important in reproducing the bicollinear antiferromagnetic order in FeTe, as is observed in experiments. We also show that the elimination of the double counting induces a unique degeneracy of several magnetic orders in FeSe, which may explain the absence of the magnetic ordering. We discuss the relationship between the degeneracy and the recently found puzzling phenomena in FeSe as well as the magnetic ordering found under pressure.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Weyl Node and Spin Texture in Trigonal Tellurium and Selenium

We study Weyl nodes in materials with broken inversion symmetry. We find based on first-principles calculations that trigonal Te and Se have multiple Weyl nodes near the Fermi level. The conduction bands have a spin splitting similar to the Rashba splitting around the H points, but unlike the Rashba splitting the spin directions are radial, forming a hedgehog spin texture around the H points, with a nonzero Pontryagin index for each spin-split conduction band. The Weyl semimetal phase, which has never been observed in real materials without inversion symmetry, is realized under pressure. The evolution of the spin texture by varying the pressure can be explained by the evolution of the Weyl nodes in k space.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Derivation of Static Low-Energy Effective Models by ab initio Downfolding Method without Double Counting of Coulomb Correlations: Application to SrVO3, FeSe and FeTe

Derivation of low-energy effective models by a partial trace summation of the electronic degrees of freedom far away from the Fermi level, called downfolding, is reexamined. We propose an improved formalism free from the double-counting of electron correlation in the low-energy degrees of freedom. In this approach, the exchange-correlation energy in the local density approximation (LDA) is replaced with the constrained self-energy corrections defined by the sum of the contribution from eliminated high-energy degrees of freedom, Sigma H and that from the frequency-dependent part of the partially screened interaction, Delta Sigma L. We apply the formalism to SrVO3 as well as to two iron-based superconductors, FeSe and FeTe. The resultant bandwidths of the effective models are nearly the same as those of the previous downfolding formalism because of striking cancellations of Sigma H and Delta Sigma L. In SrVO3, the resultant bandwidth of the effective low-energy model is 2.56 eV (in comparison to LDA: 2.58 eV, full GW approximation: 2.19 eV). However, in the non-degenerate multi-band materials such as FeSe and FeTe, the momentum dependent self-energy effects yield substantial modifications of the band structures and relative shifts of orbital-energy levels of the effective models. The FeSe model indicates a substantial downward shift of the x2-y2 orbital level, which may lead to an increase in the filling of the x2-y2 orbital above half filling. It suggests a destruction of the orbital selective Mott phase of the x2-y2 orbital in agreement with the experimental absence of the antiferromagnetic phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Ab-initio Low-Energy Model of Transition-Metal-Oxide Heterostructure LaAlO3/SrTiO3

We develop the multi-scale ab-initio scheme for correlated electrons (MACE) for transitionmetal-oxide heterostructures, and determine the parameters of the low-energy effective model. By separating Ti t2g bands near the Fermi level from the global Kohn-Sham (KS) bands of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 which are highly entangled with each other, we are able to calculate the parameters of the low-energy effective model of the interface with the help of constrained random phase approximation (cRPA). The on-site energies of the Ti t2g orbitals in the 1stlayer is about 650 meV lower than those in the 2nd-layer. In the 1st-layer, the transfer integral of the Ti t2g orbital is nearly the same as that of the bulk SrTiO3, while the effective screened Coulomb interaction becomes about 10 percent larger than that of the bulk SrTiO3. The differences of the parameters from the bulk SrTiO3 reduce rapidly with increasing distance from the interface. Our present versatile method makes it possible to derive effective ab-initio low-energy models and allows studying interfaces of strongly correlated electron systems from first principles.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Systematic Control of Carrier Doping without Disorder at Interface of Oxide Heterostructures

We propose a method to systematically control carrier densities at the interface of transition-metal oxide heterostructures without introducing disorders. By inserting non-polar layers sandwiched by polar layers, continuous carrier doping into the interface can be realized. This method enables us to control the total carrier densities per unit cell systematically up to high values of the order unity.

cond-mat.str-el↗