Beyond Dirac and Weyl fermions: Unconventional quasiparticles in conventional crystals

Abstract

In quantum field theory, we learn that fermions come in three varieties: Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac. Here, we show that in solid-state systems this classification is incomplete, and we find several additional types of crystal symmetry-protected free fermionic excitations. We exhaustively classify linear and quadratic three-, six-, and eight-band crossings stabilized by space group symmetries in solid-state systems with spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry. Several distinct types of fermions arise, differentiated by their degeneracies at and along high-symmetry points, lines, and surfaces. Some notable consequences of these fermions are the presence of Fermi arcs in non-Weyl systems and the existence of Dirac lines. Ab initio calculations identify a number of materials that realize these exotic fermions close to the Fermi level.