Topological diffusive metal in amorphous transition metal mono-silicides

Abstract

In chiral crystals crystalline symmetries can protect multifold fermions, pseudo-relativistic masless quasiparticles that have no high-energy counterparts. Their realization in transition metal mono-silicides has exemplified their intriguing physical properties, such as long Fermi arc surface states and unusual optical responses. Recent experimental studies on amorphous transition metal mono-silicides suggest that topological properties may survive beyond crystals, even though theoretical evidence is lacking. Motivated by these findings, we theoretically study a tight-binding model of amorphous transition metal mono-silicides. We find that topological properties of multifold fermions survive in the presence of structural disorder that converts the semimetal into a diffusive metal. We characterize this topological diffusive metal phase with the spectral localizer, a real-space topological indicator that we show can signal multifold fermions. Our findings showcase how topological properties can survive in disordered metals, and how they can be uncovered using the spectral localizer.Comment: 7 + 9 pages; 4 + 9 figure