Fig. 4: The schematics of the mechanism of spin-polarized p-wave superconductivity.

Here ‘T’ and ‘B’ denote the temperature and the magnetic field, respectively. As the magnetic field sweeps from −1 T to 1 T, the system initially enters into a superconducting state dominated by ‘negative’ equal spin pairing domains, indicated by blue arrows in the first dome of superconductivity, namely SC-I. At a low-temperature T₁, when the magnetic field changes sign, ‘positive’ domains, represented by yellow arrows, begin to proliferate. This coexistence of negative and positive superconducting domains results in the formation of a metastable state, SC-II, with higher free energy than SC-I. As a consequence, it reduces the transition temperature and the upper critical field, leading to an asymmetry between the two superconducting domes. At a high-temperature T₂, when the magnetic field changes sign, the ‘negative’ domains become disconnected, and the system enters a finite-resistance state. At higher magnetic fields, the positive domains become more energetically favorable to form, and the proliferation and percolation of ‘positive’ domains lead to the second dome of superconductivity.