Extendeds±scenario for the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate in superconducting pnictides

Abstract

Recently, several measurements of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate ${T}_{1}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ in the superconducting Fe pnictides have been reported. These measurements generally show no coherence peak below ${T}_{c}$ and indicate a low-temperature power-law behavior, the characteristics commonly taken as evidence of unconventional superconductivity with lines of nodes crossing the Fermi surface. In this work we show that (i) the lack of a coherence peak is fully consistent with the previously proposed nodeless extended ${s}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$-wave symmetry of the order parameter (whether in the clean or dirty limit) and (ii) the low-temperature power-law behavior can be also explained in the framework of the same model but requires going beyond the Born limit.