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Non-Abelian braiding of Weyl nodes via symmetry-constrained phase transitions

Siyu Chen1,*, Adrien Bouhon2,†, Robert-Jan Slager1,‡, and Bartomeu Monserrat1,3,§

  • 1TCM Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
  • 2Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (Nordita), Stockholm University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Hannes Alfvéns väg 12, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden
  • 3Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, 27 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0FS, United Kingdom

  • *sc2090@cam.ac.uk
  • †adrien.bouhon@su.se
  • ‡rjs269@cam.ac.uk
  • §bm418@cam.ac.uk

Phys. Rev. B 105, L081117 – Published 28 February, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.L081117

Abstract

Weyl semimetals are arguably the most paradigmatic form of a gapless topological phase. While the stability of Weyl nodes, as quantified by their topological charge, has been extensively investigated, recent interest has shifted to the manipulation of the location of these Weyl nodes for non-Abelian braiding. To accomplish this braiding it is necessary to drive significant Weyl node motion using realistic experimental parameter changes. We show that a family of phase transitions characterized by certain symmetry constraints impose that the Weyl nodes have to reorganize by a large amount, shifting from one high-symmetry plane to another. Additionally, for a subset of pairs of nodes with nontrivial Euler class topology, this reorganization can only occur through a braiding process with adjacent nodes. As a result, the Weyl nodes are forced to move a large distance across the Brillouin zone and to braid, all driven by small temperature changes, a process we illustrate with Cd2Re2O7.

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