The Chiral Anomaly, Dirac and Weyl Semimetals, and Force-Free Magnetic Fields

Abstract

The chiral anomaly is a purely quantum mechanical phenomenon that has a long history dating back to the late 1960s. Surprisingly, it has recently made a macroscopic appearance in condensed matter physics. A brief introduction to the relevant features of this anomaly is given and it is shown that its appearance in condensed matter systems must involve force-free magnetic fields, which may help explain the long current relaxation times in Dirac and Weyl semimetals.

10 pages, 1 figure. Clarifications and minor corrections have been made in this version

References in corpus (4)

• The Chiral Magnetic Effect
• Chiral anomaly and transport in Weyl metals
• Negative longitudinal magnetoresistance in Dirac and Weyl metals
• Signature of the chiral anomaly in a Dirac semimetal: a current plume steered by a magnetic field

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Thermal transport, geometry, and anomalies
• Non-Hermitian chiral anomalies
• Unconventional thermoelectric transport in tilted Weyl semimetals
• The Possible Emergence of an Attractive Inverse-Square Law from the Wave-Nature of Particles