Resonance Impurity Scattering in PrOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$

TL;DR

This paper investigates how impurity scattering affects the superconducting properties of PrOs4Sb12, revealing sensitivity in quasiparticle states and transition temperatures that can test the order parameter symmetry.

Contribution

It applies the standard impurity scattering theory to triplet superconductivity in PrOs4Sb12, highlighting the impact on quasiparticle states and thermodynamics.

Findings

Impurity scattering significantly alters quasiparticle density of states.

Superconducting transition temperature depends strongly on impurity levels.

Behavior resembles that of d-wave superconductors.

Abstract

We study the effect of impurity scattering in the unitarity limit on the A and B phase superconductivity in PrOs4Sb12. We take the triplet superconducting order parameters and the impurity scattering is treated within the standard theory. We find the quasiparticle density of states and thermodynamics are very sensitive to the impurity scattering. The impurity scattering dependence of the superconducting transition temperature and the order parameter at T=0 are very similar to those in d-wave superconductors. Some of these characteristics will provide a sensitive test of the symmetry of the underlying order parameters.