Filling-enforced nonsymmorphic Kondo semimetals in two dimensions

Journal article

We study the competition between Kondo screening and frustrated magnetism on the nonsymmorphic Shastry-Sutherland Kondo lattice at a filling of two conduction electrons per unit cell. This model is known to host a set of gapless partially Kondo screened phases intermediate between the Kondo-destroyed paramagnet and the heavy Fermi liquid. Based on crystal symmetries, we argue that (i) both the paramagnet and the heavy Fermi liquid are semimetals protected by a glide symmetry; and (ii) partial Kondo screening breaks the symmetry, removing this protection and allowing the partially Kondo screened phase to be deformed into a Kondo insulator via a Lifshitz transition. We confirm these results using large-N mean-field theory and then use nonperturbative arguments to derive a generalized Luttinger sum rule constraining the phase structure of two-dimensional nonsymmorphic Kondo lattices beyond the mean-field limit.

Authors: Pixley, J; Lee, S; Brandom, B; Parameswaran, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Journal: Physical Review B
• Volume: 96
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 081105(R)
• Publication date: 2017-08-01
• Acceptance date: 2017-07-24
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.081105
• EISSN: 2469-9969
• ISSN: 2469-9950
• Keywords: Journal Article