The heavy-fermion compound UTe2 is a strong candidate for odd-parity spin-triplet superconductivity. While the bulk orthorhombic crystal symmetry favors a single-component superconducting order parameter, the surface hosts an intricate interplay of spatially modulated orders, which has been interpreted as a primary pair-density wave inducing secondary charge order. Here, we propose the opposite scenario, whereby a primary surface charge-density wave intertwines with bulk superconductivity to induce a secondary, spatially modulated surface pair-density wave. We show that this is consistent with experimental observations related to the surface, including the field evolution of Fourier peaks. Moreover, we identify a potential mechanism by which the intertwined ground state can break time-reversal symmetry (TRS), even though both primary orders preserve it, which is consistent with indications of TRS breaking at the superconducting transition by surface-sensitive probes. Finally, we show that the phase shift between the charge and superconducting modulations carries information about the underlying bulk pairing symmetry, and in UTe2 the reported phase shift is consistent with B1u or B2u pairing.

[1] A. L. Szabo, A. Ramires, Phys. Rev. Research 8, L012038 (2026)