In:
Nature Communications, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 6, No. 1 ( 2015-06-12)
Abstract:
Weyl fermions are massless chiral fermions that play an important role in quantum field theory but have never been observed as fundamental particles. A Weyl semimetal is an unusual crystal that hosts Weyl fermions as quasiparticle excitations and features Fermi arcs on its surface. Such a semimetal not only provides a condensed matter realization of the anomalies in quantum field theories but also demonstrates the topological classification beyond the gapped topological insulators. Here, we identify a topological Weyl semimetal state in the transition metal monopnictide materials class. Our first-principles calculations on TaAs reveal its bulk Weyl fermion cones and surface Fermi arcs. Our results show that in the TaAs-type materials the Weyl semimetal state does not depend on fine-tuning of chemical composition or magnetic order, which opens the door for the experimental realization of Weyl semimetals and Fermi arc surface states in real materials.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-1723
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2015
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2553671-0