Symmetry Protected Topological Superfluids and Superconductors --- From the Basics to $^3$He ---

TL;DR

This review explores the recent advances in symmetry-protected topological superfluids and superconductors, focusing on superfluid $^3$He and its various phases, topological phenomena, and implications for unconventional superconductors.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of topological phases in superfluid $^3$He and related materials, highlighting new topological phenomena and their physical consequences.

Findings

Multiple superfluid phases with distinct topological properties

Observation of Majorana fermions and Weyl superfluidity

Topological phase transitions and emergent phenomena in $^3$He

Abstract

In this article, we give a comprehensive review of recent progress in research on symmetry-protected topological superfluids and topological crystalline superconductors, and their physical consequences such as helical and chiral Majorana fermions. We start this review article with the minimal model that captures the essence of such topological materials. The central part of this article is devoted to the superfluid $^3$He, which serves as a rich repository of novel topological quantum phenomena originating from the intertwining of symmetries and topologies. In particular, it is emphasized that the quantum fluid confined to nanofabricated geometries possesses multiple superfluid phases composed of the symmetry-protected topological superfluid B-phase, the A-phase as a Weyl superfluid, the nodal planar and polar phases, and the crystalline ordered stripe phase. All these phases generate noteworthy topological phenomena, including topological phase transitions concomitant with spontaneous symmetry breaking, Majorana fermions, Weyl superfluidity, emergent supersymmetry, spontaneous edge mass and spin currents, topological Fermi arcs, and exotic quasiparticles bound to topological defects. In relation to the mass current carried by gapless edge states, we also briefly review a longstanding issue on the intrinsic angular momentum paradox in $^3$He-A. Moreover, we share the current status of our knowledge on the topological aspects of unconventional superconductors, such as the heavy-fermion superconductor UPt$_3$ and superconducting doped topological insulators, in connection with the superfluid $^3$He.