The Global Phase Diagram of disordered Higher-order Weyl Semimetals

TL;DR

This paper explores how disorder affects higher-order Weyl semimetals, revealing a phase transition, the robustness of Weyl nodes, and the fragility of certain topological features, advancing understanding of their topological phases.

Contribution

It provides the first global phase diagram of disordered higher-order Weyl semimetals and uncovers a new phase transition distinct from traditional Weyl semimetals.

Findings

Disorder induces a phase transition from WSM to HOWSM.

Weyl nodes in HOWSMs are robust against disorder.

Quantized topological features are fragile to weak disorder.

Abstract

We study the disorder-induced phase transition of higher-order Weyl semimetals (HOWSMs) and the fate of the topological features of disordered HOWSMs. We obtain a global phase diagram of HOWSMs according to the scaling theory of Anderson localization. Specifically, a phase transition from the Weyl semimetal (WSM) to the HOWSM is uncovered, distinguishing the disordered HOWSMs from the traditional WSMs. Further, we confirm the robustness of Weyl-nodes for HOWSMs. Interestingly, the unique topological properties of HOWSMs show different behaviors: (i) the quantized quadrupole moment and the corresponding quantized charge of hinge states are fragile to weak disorder; (ii) the hinge states show moderate stability which enables the feasibility in experimental observation. Our study deepens the understanding of the topological nature of HOWSMs and paves a possible way to the characterization of such a phase in experiments.