Signature of point nodal superconductivity in the Dirac semimetal PdTe

Recent Angle-Resolved Photo-emission Spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments [Phys.\nRev. Lett. 130, 046402 (2023)] on PdTe, a 3D-Dirac semimetal and a\nsuperconductor with the transition temperature Tc ~ 4.3 K, have revealed\ncompelling evidence of the presence of bulk nodes in the superconducting order\nparameter. To investigate the validity of this proposition, here we present a\ndetailed investigation of the magnetic field dependence of the specific heat of\nPdTe down to temperatures ~ 58 mK. We observed that the low temperature\nspecific heat of PdTe with an externally applied magnetic field exhibits a\npower-law field dependence, a characteristic of unconventional\nsuperconductivity. Furthermore, the zero-field low-temperature electronic\nspecific heat follows a cubic temperature dependence, which is a signature of\nthe presence of bulk point nodes in PdTe. These intriguing observations suggest\nthat PdTe is a rare and fascinating topological material that exhibits both\nDirac semimetallic properties and superconductivity with point nodal gap\nsymmetry.\n