Mass hierarchy in collective modes of pair-density-wave superconductors

Abstract

We study collective modes near the quantum critical point of a pair-density-wave (PDW) superconductor in 2+1 dimensions. The fate of gaps of various collective modes is investigated by functional renormalization. For incommensurate PDW superconductors, we show that the gapless Leggett mode, protected by the emergent $U(1)$ symmetry, can induce an exponentially small Higgs mass compared to the superconducting gap. Further, for commensurate PDW superconductors, we find an emergent mass hierarchy in the collective modes, i.e. the masses of Leggett boson, Higgs boson, and the superconducting gap can differ by several magnitudes in the infrared. This may shed light to a mechanism underlying the hierarchy problem in the Standard Model of particle physics.