Twofold spontaneous symmetry breaking in a heavy fermion superconductor UPt$_3$

Abstract

The field-orientation dependent thermal conductivity of the heavy-fermion superconductor UPt$_3$ was measured down to very low temperatures and under magnetic fields throughout three distinct superconducting phases: A, B, and C phases. In the C phase, a striking twofold oscillation of the thermal conductivity within the basal plane is resolved reflecting the superconducting gap structure with a line of node along the a axis. Moreover, we find an abrupt vanishing of the oscillation across a transition to the B phase, as a clear indication of a change of gap symmetries. We also identify extra two line nodes below and above the equator in both B and C phases. From these results together with the symmetry consideration, the gap function of UPt$_3$ is conclusively determined as a $E_{1u}$ representation characterized by a combination of two line nodes at the tropics and point nodes at the poles.