Electronic instabilities of kagome metals: Saddle points and Landau theory

The newly discovered family of kagome metals AV₃Sb₅ (A=K,Cs,Rb) has recently gained wide attention. Here, the authors study these materials using a general continuum model and utilize renormalization group and mean field theory methods to identify mechanisms that can lead to the experimentally observed charge density wave ordering. The authors find that the charge density wave is the primary density wave instability in certain cases but could also be induced by a leading orbital current or spin density wave order.