Electromagnetic Signatures of the Chiral Anomaly in Weyl Semimetals

Barnes, Edwin; Heremans, J.  J.; Minic, Djordje

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.117.217204

Title: Electromagnetic Signatures of the Chiral Anomaly in Weyl Semimetals

Journal Article · Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.117.217204· OSTI ID:1536450

Barnes, Edwin ^[1]; Heremans, J. J. ^[1]; Minic, Djordje ^[1]

Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Physics

Weyl semimetals are predicted to realize the three-dimensional axial anomaly first discussed in particle physics. The anomaly leads to unusual transport phenomena such as the chiral magnetic effect in which an applied magnetic field induces a current parallel to the field. Here we investigate diagnostics of the axial anomaly based on the fundamental equations of axion electrodynamics. We find that materials with Weyl nodes of opposite chirality and finite energy separation immersed in a uniform magnetic field exhibit an anomaly-induced oscillatory magnetic field with a period set by the chemical potential difference of the nodes. In the case where a chemical potential imbalance is created by applying parallel electric and magnetic fields, we find a suppression of the magnetic-field component parallel to the electric field inside the material for rectangular samples, suggesting that the chiral magnetic current opposes this imbalance. For cylindrical geometries, we instead find an enhancement of this magnetic-field component along with an anomaly-induced azimuthal component. We propose experiments to detect such magnetic signatures of the axial anomaly.

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Research Organization:: Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-08ER46532; SC0009973; FG02-13ER41917; DOE DE-FG02-08ER46532

OSTI ID:: 1536450

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1332143

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 117, Issue 21; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 17 works

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