Weyl nodes in CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ studied by dynamical mean-field theory

TL;DR

This study uses advanced theoretical methods to identify Weyl nodes in the strongly correlated heavy fermion compound CeRu4Sn6, revealing its topological properties and bridging the Kondo insulating gap.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed theoretical identification of Weyl nodes in CeRu4Sn6 using combined density functional and dynamical mean-field theory, highlighting its topological nature.

Findings

Five inequivalent Weyl nodes identified.

Weyl nodes are very close to the Fermi level, only 0.5 meV below.

Weyl nodes bridge the Kondo insulating gap.

Abstract

The heavy fermion compound CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ was recently shown to exhibit a spontaneous nonlinear Hall effect, indicating its topological nature. This is consistent with the lack of inversion symmetry that allows for the existence of Weyl nodes. Here, we employ density functional theory combined with dynamical mean-field theory, which is state-of-the-art for strongly correlated materials, and study the topology of CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$. We find five inequivalent Weyl nodes of either type I or II, each having either eight or sixteen symmetry-related replicas. These Weyl nodes bridge the Kondo insulating gap, which is a direct but not an indirect gap. The Weyl points closest to the Fermi level are situated only 0.5 meV below it, and have a very flat dispersion. Our ab initio results establish CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ as a model system for investigating the interplay between strong electronic correlations and nontrivial topology. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for future studies of quantum transport and interaction-driven topological phases in heavy-fermion systems.