Superconducting pairing in the spin-density-wave phase of iron pnictides

Abstract

Some of the iron pnictides show coexisting superconductivity and spin-density-wave order. We study the superconducting pairing instability in the spin-density-wave phase. Assuming that the pairing interaction is due to spin fluctuations, we calculate the effective pairing interactions in the singlet and triplet channels by summing the bubble and ladder diagrams, taking the reconstructed band structure into account. The leading pairing instabilities and the corresponding superconducting gap structures are then obtained from the superconducting gap equation. We illustrate this approach for a minimal two-band model of the pnictides. Analytical and numerical results show that the presence of spin and charge fluctuations in the spin-density-wave phase strongly enhances the pairing. Over a limited parameter range, a px-wave state is the dominant instability. It competes with various states, which have mostly s±-type structures. We analyze the effect of various symmetry-allowed interactions on the pairing in some detail. © 2014 American Physical Society.