Spin fluctuation induced Weyl semimetal state in the paramagnetic phase of EuCd<sub>2</sub>As<sub>2</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31309151.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aaw4718 and PMC identifier 6625818.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Weyl fermions as emergent quasiparticles can arise in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) in which the energy bands are nondegenerate, resulting from inversion or time-reversal symmetry breaking. Nevertheless, experimental evidence for magnetically induced WSMs is scarce. Here, using photoemission spectroscopy, we observe that the degeneracy of Bloch bands is already lifted in the paramagnetic phase of EuCd<sub>2</sub>As<sub>2</sub>. We attribute this effect to the itinerant electrons experiencing quasi-static and quasi-long-range ferromagnetic fluctuations. Moreover, the spin-nondegenerate band structure harbors a pair of ideal Weyl nodes near the Fermi level. Hence, we show that long-range magnetic order and the spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry are not essential requirements for WSM states in centrosymmetric systems and that WSM states can emerge in a wider range of condensed matter systems than previously thought.