Cubic ScPd topological metal: Closed nodal line, spin-orbit coupling-induced triply degenerate nodal point–Dirac nodal point transition

• Published in: Results in physics 2020-12, Vol.19, p.103553, Article 103553
• Main Authors: Li, Yang, Zhang, Dong, Xia, Jihong, Khenata, Rabah, Kuang, Minquan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: DFT; Dirac nodal point; Electronic structures; Nodal line; ScPd metal; Triply degenerate nodal point
• ISSN: 2211-3797; 2211-3797
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rinp.2020.103553

•ScPd is an interesting TM with multiple fermionic states.•SOC induced TNP–Dirac NP (DNP) transition appeared along the R-M-R′ paths.•ScPd is a realistic intermetallic compound.•Remarkably, a type I surface Dirac-like crossing was found at the X¯ point. The presence of nodal points (NPs) and nodal lines (NLs) in the momentum space of topological materials is accompanied by many interesting properties. In this study, we predicted that an existing material ScPd with Pm3¯m-type structure would have closed NLs in the kx/y/z = 0 planes and one pair of triply degenerate NPs (TNPs) along the R-M-R′ paths, respectively, when the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) effect is not taken into consideration. Obvious nontrivial surface states were found around band-crossing points A, B, and C, which can be seen as good evidence for the topological signatures of ScPd metal. When the SOC effect was added, a TNP–Dirac NP (DNP) transition appeared along the R-M-R′ paths. Also, the band-crossing points belonging to the closed NL in the kx/y/z = 0 planes were gapped by the induction of SOC. However, the SOC-induced gaps were very small (