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Role of Local Ru Hexamers in Superconductivity of Ruthenium Phosphide

Superconductivity in binary ruthenium pnictides occurs proximal to and upon suppression of a mysterious non-magnetic ground state, preceded by a pseudogap phase associated with Fermi surface instability, and its critical temperature, T$_{c}$, is maximized around the pseudogap quantum critical point. By analogy with isoelectronic iron based counterparts, antiferromagnetic fluctuations became "usual suspects" as putative mediators of superconducting pairing. Here we report on a high temperature local symmetry breaking in RuP, the parent of the maximum-Tc branch of these novel superconductors, revealed by combined nanostructure-sensitive powder and single crystal X-ray total scattering experiments. Large local Ru$_{6}$ hexamer distortions associated with orbital-charge trimerization form above the two-stage electronic transition in RuP. While hexamer ordering enables the nonmagnetic ground state and presumed complex oligomerization, the relevance of pseudogap fluctuations for superconductivity emerges as a distinct prospect. As a transition metal system in which partial d-manifold filling combined with high crystal symmetry promotes electronic instabilities, this represents a further example of local electronic precursors underpinning the macroscopic collective behavior of quantum materials.