Charge-4 Weyl point: Minimum lattice model and chirality-dependent properties

TL;DR

This paper introduces a minimal lattice model for charge-4 Weyl points in spinless systems, exploring their unique properties and potential phase transitions, advancing understanding of topological semimetals.

Contribution

It establishes the first minimal tight-binding model for charge-4 Weyl points with specific symmetry requirements and investigates their chirality-dependent physical properties.

Findings

Identified symmetry conditions for charge-4 Weyl points.

Revealed chirality-dependent phenomena like chiral Landau bands.

Predicted exotic topological phases emerging from symmetry breaking.

Abstract

Topological Weyl semimetals have been attracting broad interest. Recently, a new type of Weyl point with topological charge of $4$, termed as charge-4 Weyl point (C-4 WP), was proposed in spinless systems. Here, we show the minimum symmetry requirement for C-4 WP is point group $T$ together with ${\cal T}$ symmetry or point group $O$. We establish a minimum tight-binding model for C-4 WP on a cubic lattice with time-reversal symmetry and without spin-orbit coupling effect. This lattice model is a two-band one, ontaining only one pair of C-4 WPs with opposite chirality around Fermi level. Based on both the low-energy effective Hamiltonian and the minimum lattice model, we investigate the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of C-4 WP. Several chirality-dependent properties are revealed, such as chiral Landau bands, quantized circular photogalvanic effect and quadruple-helicoid surface arc states. Furthermore, we predict that under symmetry breaking, various exotic topological phases can evolve out of C-4 WPs. Our work not only reveals several interesting phenomena associate to C-4 WPs, but also provides a simple and ideal lattice model of C-4 WP, which will be helpful for the subsequent study on C-4 WPs.