Absence of Ginzburg-Landau mechanism for vestigial order in the normal phase above a two-component superconductor

Abstract

A two-component superconductor may hypothetically support a vestigial order phase above its superconducting transition temperature, with rotational or time-reversal symmetry spontaneously broken while remaining nonsuperconducting. This has been suggested as an explanation for the observed normal state nematicity of the nematic superconductor ${M}_{x}{\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Se}}_{3}$. We examine the condition for this vestigial order to occur within Ginzburg-Landau theory with order parameter fluctuations, on both the nematic and chiral sides of the theory. Contrary to prior theoretical results, we rule out a large portion of parameter space for possible vestigial order. We argue that very extreme anisotropy is one prerequisite for the formation of a stable vestigial phase via this mechanism, which is likely not met in real materials.