📝 SummarXiv

Abstract

In this study, we examine how the orbital degrees of freedom of electrons and Majorana surface states influence the magnetic penetration depth in the superconductor UTe$_2$. We use a model involving two orbital electrons and consider superconducting states classified into irreducible representations of the $D_{2h}$ crystal symmetry: $A_{u}$, $B_{1u}$, $B_{2u}$, and $B_{3u}$. We first show that in bulk nodal superconductors, such as the $B_{2u}$ state, the magnetic penetration depth for the screening current along the antinodal direction exhibits a $T^2$ dependence, which significantly deviates from $T^4$ expected from conventional theory. This anomalous exponent is attributed to quasiparticle contributions around the point nodes to the inter-orbital paramagnetic current. We then explore the roles of surface states. The fully gapped $A_{u}$ state hosts Majorana surface states with cone-shaped dispersions, while Majorana Fermi arcs appear in the other pairing states. We demonstrate that when the ratio of magnetic penetration depth to coherence length ($\kappa$) is small, the Majorana cone in the $A_u$ state significantly contributes to the paramagnetic current, leading to the $T^3$ dependence of the penetration depth. In the other states hosting Majorana arcs, the penetration depth exhibits anisotropic power-law behavior, such as $T^2$ ($T^3$) for the screening current flowing along the dispersive (dispersionless) direction of Majorana arcs. Therefore, in low-$\kappa$ type-II superconductors, the signals of Majorana surface states may be detectable through penetration depth measurements. As $\kappa$ increases and approaches the type-II limit, however, the impact of Majorana surface states diminishes, and the temperature dependence is determined by bulk quasiparticle excitations instead of surface states.