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Multigap superconductivity in HgS under pressure

Pietro Maria Forcella1, Cesare Tresca2,*, Antonio Sanna3,4, and Gianni Profeta1,2

  • *Contact author: cesare.tresca@spin.cnr.it
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 034506 – Published 14 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sp9k-yjh7

Abstract

Mercury chalcogenides are a class of materials that exhibit many structural phases under pressure, hosting exotic physical properties, including topological phases and chiral phonons. In particular, recent experimental results [Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. B 110, L060502 (2024)] on HgS report a new superconducting phase at ∼21GPa, whose origin is unknown. In this work, we theoretically investigate the pressure-induced structural phase transition in HgS and the resulting emergence of superconductivity. Remarkably, we find that this phase supports a two-gap superconducting state arising from distinct Fermi surface sheets. The unusually high critical temperature of ∼11K emerges naturally within this multiband scenario, highlighting the role of interband coupling beyond isotropic approximation. These results place HgS among the few systems where multiband superconductivity is observed.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 034506– Published 14 July, 2026
  • Received 31 July 2025
  • Revised 5 June 2026
  • Accepted 15 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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