Multiband mean-field theory of the d plus ig superconductivity scenario in Sr2RuO4

Many seemingly contradictory experimental findings concerning the superconducting state in Sr2RuO4 can be accounted for on the basis of a conjectured accidental degeneracy between two patterns of pairing that are unrelated to each other under the (D4h) symmetry of the crystal: a dx2-y2-wave (B1g) and a gxy(x2-y2)-wave (A2g) superconducting state. In this paper, we propose a generic multiband model in which the g-wave pairing involving the xz and yz orbitals arises from second-nearest-neighbor BCS channel effective interactions. Even if timereversal symmetry is broken in a d + ig state, such a superconductor remains gapless with a Bogoliubov Fermi surface that approximates a (vertical) line node. The model gives rise to a strain-dependent splitting between the critical temperature Tc and the time-reversal symmetry-breaking temperature TTRSB that is qualitatively similar to some of the experimental observations in Sr2RuO4.