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1. Robust Nodal Behavior in the Thermal Conductivity of Superconducting ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.021029  

   Hayes, Ian M; Metz, Tristin E; Frank, Corey E; Saha, Shanta R; Butch, Nicholas P; Mishra, Vivek; Hirschfeld, P J; Paglione, Johnpierre (April 2025, Physical Review X)

   The superconducting state of the heavy-fermion metal ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$has attracted considerable interest because of evidence of spin-triplet Cooper pairing and nontrivial topology. Progress on these questions requires identifying the presence or absence of nodes in the superconducting gap function and their dimension. In this article, we report a comprehensive study of the influence of disorder on the thermal transport in the superconducting state of ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$. Through detailed measurements of the magnetic-field dependence of the thermal conductivity in the zero-temperature limit, we obtain clear evidence of the presence of point nodes in the superconducting gap for all samples with transition temperatures ranging from 1.6 to 2.1 K obtained by different synthesis methods, including a refined self-flux method. This robustness implies the presence of symmetry-imposed nodes throughout the range studied, further confirmed via disorder-dependent calculations of the thermal transport in a model with a single pair of nodes. In addition to capturing the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity up to $T_c$, this model provides some information about the locations of the nodes, suggesting a $B_{1u}$or $B_{2u}$symmetry for the superconducting order parameter. Additionally, comparing the new, ultrahigh conductivity samples to older samples reveals a crossover between a low-field and a high-field regime at a single value of the magnetic field in all samples. In the high-field regime, the thermal conductivity at different disorder levels differs from each other by a simple offset, suggesting that some simple principle determines the physics of the mixed state, a fact which may illuminate trends observed in other clean nodal superconductors. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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2. Toward an Ab Initio Theory of High-Temperature Superconductors: A Study of Multilayer Cuprates

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.021071  

   Bacq-Labreuil, Benjamin; Lacasse, Benjamin; Tremblay, A-M S; Sénéchal, David; Haule, Kristjan (May 2025, Physical Review X)

   Significant progress toward a theory of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates has been achieved via the study of effective one- and three-band Hubbard models. Nevertheless, material-specific predictions, while essential for constructing a comprehensive theory, remain challenging due to the complex relationship between real materials and the parameters of the effective models. By combining cluster dynamical mean-field theory and density functional theory in a charge-self-consistent manner, here we show that the goal of material-specific predictions for high-temperature superconductors from first principles is within reach. To demonstrate the capabilities of our approach, we take on the challenge of explaining the remarkable physics of multilayer cuprates by focusing on the two representative ${\mathrm{Ca}}_{(1+n)}{\mathrm{Cu}}_n{\mathrm{O}}_{2n}{\mathrm{Cl}}_2$and ${\mathrm{HgBa}}_2{\mathrm{Ca}}_{(n-1)}{\mathrm{Cu}}_n{\mathrm{O}}_{(2n+2)}$families. We shed light on the microscopic origin of many salient features of multilayer cuprates, in particular, the $n$dependence of their superconducting properties. The growth of $T_c$from the single-layer to the trilayer compounds is here explained by the reduction of the charge transfer gap and, consequently, the growth of superexchange $J$as $n$increases. The origin of both is traced to the appearance of low-energy conduction bands reminiscent of standing wave modes confined within the stack of ${\mathrm{CuO}}_2$planes. We interpret the ultimate drop of $T_c$for $n\ge 4$as a consequence of the inhomogeneous doping between the ${\mathrm{CuO}}_2$planes, which prevents the emergence of superconductivity in the inner planes due to their insufficient effective hole doping, as we also highlight the existence of a minimal doping (4%) required for superconductivity to appear in one of the planes. We explain material-specific properties such as the larger propensity of ${\mathrm{HgBa}}_2{\mathrm{Ca}}_{(n-1)}{\mathrm{Cu}}_n{\mathrm{O}}_{(2n+2)}$to superconduct compared with ${\mathrm{Ca}}_{(1+n)}{\mathrm{Cu}}_n{\mathrm{O}}_{2n}{\mathrm{Cl}}_2$. We also find the coexistence of arcs and pockets observed with photoemission, the charge redistribution between copper and oxygen, and the link to the pseudogap. Our work establishes a framework for comprehensive studies of high-temperature superconducting cuprates, enables detailed comparisons with experiment, and, through its settings, unlocks opportunities for theoretical material design of high-temperature superconductors. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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3. Controllable suppression of the unconventional superconductivity in bulk and thin-film ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$ via high-energy electron irradiation

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.033178  

   Ruf, Jacob P; Noad, Hilary_M L; Grasset, Romain; Miao, Ludi; Zhakina, Elina; McGuinness, Philippa H; Nair, Hari P; Schreiber, Nathaniel J; Kikugawa, Naoki; Sokolov, Dmitry; et al (August 2024, Physical Review Research)

   In bulk ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$, the strong sensitivity of the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\text{c}}$to nonmagnetic impurities provides robust evidence for a superconducting order parameter that changes sign around the Fermi surface. In superconducting epitaxial thin-film ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$, the relationship between $T_{\text{c}}$and the residual resistivity ${\rho }_0$, which in bulk samples is taken to be a proxy for the low-temperature elastic scattering rate, is far less clear. Using high-energy electron irradiation to controllably introduce point disorder into bulk single-crystal and thin-film ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$, we show that $T_{\text{c}}$is suppressed in both systems at nearly identical rates. This suggests that part of ${\rho }_0$in films comes from defects that do not contribute to superconducting pairbreaking and establishes a quantitative link between the superconductivity of bulk and thin-film samples. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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4. Particle production as a function of charged-particle flattenicity in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.012010  

   Acharya, S; Adamová, D; Agarwal, A; Aglieri_Rinella, G; Aglietta, L; Agnello, M; Agrawal, N; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, S; Ahn, S U; et al (January 2025, Physical Review D)

   This paper reports the first measurement of the transverse momentum ( $p_{\mathrm{T}}$) spectra of primary charged pions, kaons, (anti)protons, and unidentified particles as a function of the charged-particle flattenicity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$. Flattenicity is a novel event shape observable that is measured in the pseudorapidity intervals covered by the V0 detector, $2.8<\eta <5.1$and $-3.7<\eta <-1.7$. According to QCD-inspired phenomenological models, it shows sensitivity to multiparton interactions and is less affected by biases toward larger $p_{\mathrm{T}}$due to local multiplicity fluctuations in the V0 acceptance than multiplicity. The analysis is performed in minimum-bias (MB) as well as in high-multiplicity events up to $p_{\mathrm{T}}=20\mathrm{GeV}/c$. The event selection requires at least one charged particle produced in the pseudorapidity interval $\left|\eta \right|<1$. The measured $p_{\mathrm{T}}$distributions, average $p_{\mathrm{T}}$, kaon-to-pion and proton-to-pion particle ratios, presented in this paper, are compared to model calculations using 8 based on color strings and EPOS LHC. The modification of the $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-spectral shapes in low-flattenicity events that have large event activity with respect to those measured in MB events develops a pronounced peak at intermediate $p_{\mathrm{T}}$( $2<p_{\mathrm{T}}<8\mathrm{GeV}/c$), and approaches the vicinity of unity at higher $p_{\mathrm{T}}$. The results are qualitatively described by , and they show different behavior than those measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity based on the V0M estimator. © 2025 CERN, for the ALICE Collaboration2025CERN 

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5. First-principles electron-phonon interactions and polarons in the parent cuprate ${\mathrm{La}}_2{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012073  

   Chang, Benjamin K; Timrov, Iurii; Park, Jinsoo; Zhou, Jin-Jian; Marzari, Nicola; Bernardi, Marco (March 2025, Physical Review Research)

   Understanding electronic interactions in high-temperature superconductors is an outstanding challenge. In the widely studied cuprate materials, experimental evidence points to strong electron-phonon ( $e$-ph) coupling and broad photoemission spectra. Yet, the microscopic origin of this behavior is not fully understood. Here, we study $e$-ph interactions and polarons in a prototypical parent (undoped) cuprate, ${\mathrm{La}}_2{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$(LCO), by means of first-principles calculations. Leveraging parameter-free Hubbard-corrected density functional theory, we obtain a ground state with the band gap and Cu magnetic moment in nearly exact agreement with experiments. This enables a quantitative characterization of $e$-ph interactions. Our calculations reveal two classes of longitudinal optical (LO) phonons with strong $e$-ph coupling to hole states. These modes consist of bond stretching and bond bending in the Cu-O plane as well as vibrations of apical O atoms. The hole spectral functions, obtained with a cumulant method that can capture strong $e$-ph coupling, exhibit broad quasiparticle peaks with a small spectral weight ( $Z\approx 0.25$) and pronounced LO-phonon sidebands characteristic of polaron effects. Our calculations predict features observed in photoemission spectra, including a 40-meV peak in the $e$-ph coupling distribution function not explained by existing models. These results show that the universal strong $e$-ph coupling found experimentally in doped lanthanum cuprates is also present in the parent compound, and elucidate its microscopic origin. 

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