Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time in TaP and the Knight shift of Weyl semimetals

Zoltán Okvátovity, Hiroshi Yasuoka, Michael Baenitz, Ferenc Simon, and Balázs Dóra
Phys. Rev. B 99, 115107 – Published 5 March 2019

Abstract

We first analyze the recent experimental data on the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate of the Weyl semimetal TaP. We argue that its nonmonotonic temperature dependence is explained by the temperature-dependent chemical potential of Weyl fermions. We also develop the theory of the Knight shift in Weyl semimetals, which contains two counteracting terms. The diamagnetic term follows ln[W/max(|μ|,kBT)] with W,μ, and T being the high-energy cutoff, chemical potential, and temperature, respectively, and is always negative. The paramagnetic term scales with μ and changes sign depending on the doping level. Altogether, the Knight shift is predicted to vanish or even change sign upon changing the doping or the temperature, making it a sensitive tool to identify Weyl points. We also calculate the Korringa relation for Weyl semimetals which shows an unusual energy dependence rather than being constant as expected for a noninteracting Fermi system.

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  • Received 29 June 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.115107

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Zoltán Okvátovity1, Hiroshi Yasuoka2, Michael Baenitz2, Ferenc Simon3, and Balázs Dóra1,*

  • 1MTA-BME Lendület Topology and Correlation Research Group and Department of Theoretical Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
  • 2Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, 01187 Dresden, Germany
  • 3MTA-BME Lendület Spintronics Research Group (PROSPIN) and Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111 Budapest, Hungary

  • *dora@eik.bme.hu

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Issue

Vol. 99, Iss. 11 — 15 March 2019

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