Topologically non-trivial gap function and topology-induced time-reversal symmetry breaking in a superconductor with singular dynamical interaction

Abstract

In many strongly correlated electron systems, non-Fermi liquid behavior and unconventional superconductivity can be viewed as emerging from an effective 4-fermion interaction with a singular frequency dependence. A pairing instability in such a system is qualitatively different from that in a Fermi liquid and generally gives rise to multiple pairing states with topologically distinct gap functions. However, in the systems studied so far, a topologically trivial solution has the lowest energy. Here we show that a repulsive Hubbard-type interaction with a finite cutoff added to a model with a singular dynamical interaction selects, in some parameter range, the theretofore subleading, topologically nontrivial solution. We consider a minimal model that displays this behavior and show that the transformation between the topologically trivial and nontrivial gap functions necessarily occurs via an intermediate phase with topology-induced breaking of time-reversal symmetry.