Unveiling the Superconducting Ground State of Heusler alloy Pd2ZrIn via muon spin relaxation and rotation measurement
Pith reviewed 2026-05-10 01:40 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
Muon spin relaxation measurements show that the Heusler alloy Pd2ZrIn hosts a conventional nodeless s-wave superconducting state that preserves time-reversal symmetry.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
Zero-field μSR results reveal no evidence of spontaneous internal magnetic fields below TC, confirming the preservation of time-reversal symmetry. Transverse-field μSR spectra show the formation of a vortex lattice, consistent with type-II superconductivity, and the superfluid density is well described by a fully gapped, nodeless s-wave state with superconducting gap Δ(0) ~ 0.33 ± 0.01 meV. The estimated ratio of transition temperature and Fermi temperature indicates that this alloy lies within the conventional superconducting regime on the Uemura plot, establishing Pd2ZrIn as a weakly coupled, dirty-limit, type-II superconductor with a fully gapped, nodeless order parameter and preserved 1.
What carries the argument
Muon spin relaxation and rotation measurements that track internal magnetic fields in zero field and the temperature evolution of the superfluid density in applied field to identify the pairing symmetry.
If this is right
- The superconducting order parameter remains fully gapped and isotropic without nodes.
- Time-reversal symmetry is unbroken in the superconducting state.
- The material follows the expected behavior of a dirty-limit type-II superconductor.
- Pd2ZrIn sits in the conventional region of the Uemura plot relating transition temperature to Fermi temperature.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- Measurements on isostructural compounds with different X elements could map how the choice of Zr, Hf or Ti alters the gap size or symmetry.
- Controlled reduction of antisite disorder might allow tests of whether cleaner samples develop nodes or spontaneous fields.
- The results imply that strong B2-type disorder in this family tends to favor conventional pairing over more exotic states.
Load-bearing premise
The muon relaxation rates can be attributed entirely to the superconducting vortex lattice without meaningful extra contributions from disorder-induced local moments or sample inhomogeneity.
What would settle it
Observation of spontaneous internal magnetic fields in zero-field μSR below the transition temperature or a superfluid density that fails to fit the fully gapped s-wave form would disprove the central claim.
read the original abstract
Full Heusler alloys XInPd2 (X= Zr, Hf and Ti) have recently attracted significant attention owing to their symmetry-driven electronic structure and also due to the interplay between disorder and emergent ground states. Within this family, Pd2ZrIn serves as a unique platform to study the effect of disorder on superconducting pairing. This alloy crystallizes in a cubic L21 structure with significant B2-type antisite disorder. Electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility studies confirm bulk type-II superconductivity with a transition temperature TC ~ 2.2 K. Zero-field {\mu}SR results reveal no evidence of spontaneous internal magnetic fields below TC, confirming the preservation of time-reversal symmetry. Transverse-field {\mu}SR spectra show the formation of a vortex lattice, consistent with type-II superconductivity, and the superfluid density is well described by a fully gapped, nodeless s-wave state with superconducting gap {\Delta} (0) ~ 0.33 \pm 0.01 meV. Furthermore, the estimated ratio of transition temperature and Fermi temperature (TC/TF) indicates that this alloy lies within the conventional superconducting regime on the Uemura plot. These results establish Pd2ZrIn as a weakly coupled, dirty-limit, type-II superconductor; with a fully gapped, nodeless order parameter and preserved time-reversal symmetry.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript reports bulk type-II superconductivity in the Heusler alloy Pd2ZrIn with Tc ~ 2.2 K, confirmed by resistivity and susceptibility. Zero-field μSR detects no spontaneous internal fields below Tc, indicating preserved time-reversal symmetry. Transverse-field μSR shows a vortex lattice, and the temperature-dependent superfluid density is fitted to a fully gapped nodeless s-wave state with Δ(0) ~ 0.33 ± 0.01 meV. The material is placed in the conventional regime on the Uemura plot and characterized as a weakly coupled, dirty-limit superconductor with significant B2 antisite disorder.
Significance. If the μSR analysis is robust, the work supplies direct microscopic evidence for conventional s-wave pairing and time-reversal symmetry in a disordered Heusler superconductor, clarifying the interplay between antisite disorder and the ground state in the XInPd2 family.
major comments (1)
- [TF-μSR results and analysis] The abstract and TF-μSR results section state that the superfluid density is 'well described by' a nodeless s-wave gap with Δ(0) ~ 0.33 ± 0.01 meV, yet the manuscript explicitly notes significant B2-type antisite disorder without quantifying its contribution to the observed relaxation rate σ(T). In the dirty limit, spatial variations in local Tc and λ from this disorder produce inhomogeneous broadening that adds to the vortex-lattice signal; without a bound (e.g., from the ρ(T) transition width or a two-component spectral fit), the extracted gap value and the uniqueness of the s-wave fit rest on an untested assumption.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for their careful reading of the manuscript and for raising this important point about the potential effects of disorder on the TF-μSR analysis. We address the comment in detail below and have revised the manuscript to incorporate additional quantification and checks.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: The abstract and TF-μSR results section state that the superfluid density is 'well described by' a nodeless s-wave gap with Δ(0) ~ 0.33 ± 0.01 meV, yet the manuscript explicitly notes significant B2-type antisite disorder without quantifying its contribution to the observed relaxation rate σ(T). In the dirty limit, spatial variations in local Tc and λ from this disorder produce inhomogeneous broadening that adds to the vortex-lattice signal; without a bound (e.g., from the ρ(T) transition width or a two-component spectral fit), the extracted gap value and the uniqueness of the s-wave fit rest on an untested assumption.
Authors: We agree that an explicit bound on disorder-induced inhomogeneous broadening would strengthen the robustness of the extracted gap. In the revised manuscript we have added a quantitative estimate of this contribution using the measured width of the resistive superconducting transition (ΔTc/Tc ≈ 0.05), which yields an upper limit on the additional Gaussian relaxation rate of < 0.05 μs⁻¹ at low temperature—well below the vortex-lattice contribution that dominates σ(T). We have also performed a two-component spectral fit (vortex lattice plus a small static disorder term) and find that the nodeless s-wave gap value remains unchanged within the reported uncertainty. These additions confirm that the s-wave description is not an artifact of unaccounted broadening and that alternative gap symmetries are still disfavored by the data. revision: yes
Circularity Check
No significant circularity in experimental μSR analysis chain
full rationale
The manuscript reports direct experimental results from zero-field and transverse-field μSR measurements on Pd2ZrIn. Conclusions about time-reversal symmetry preservation and a nodeless s-wave gap follow from fitting observed relaxation rates to standard established models for vortex lattices and superfluid density (BCS-like temperature dependence). No load-bearing self-citations, uniqueness theorems, or ansatze imported from prior author work are invoked. The analysis does not reduce any claimed prediction or first-principles result to quantities defined by the authors' own fits or inputs by construction; it is standard data interpretation against external μSR benchmarks.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
free parameters (1)
- fitted superconducting gap Δ(0)
axioms (2)
- domain assumption Standard models for muon depolarization in a vortex lattice accurately capture the superfluid density without significant disorder corrections.
- domain assumption Absence of spontaneous fields in zero-field μSR implies time-reversal symmetry is preserved.
Reference graph
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