Open this publication in new window or tab >>2020 (English)In: Physical Review B, ISSN 2469-9950, E-ISSN 2469-9969, Vol. 102, no 24, article id 241401Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
A space-time dependent node separation in Weyl semimetals acts as an axial vector field. Coupled with domain wall motion in magnetic Weyl semimetals, this induces axial electric and magnetic fields localized at the domain wall. We show how these fields can activate the axial (chiral) anomaly and provide a direct experimental signature of it. Specifically, a domain wall provides a spatially dependent Weyl node separation and an axial magnetic field B-5, and domain wall movement, driven by an external magnetic field, gives the Weyl node separation a time dependence, inducing an axial electric field E-5. At magnetic fields beyond the Walker breakdown, E-5. B-5 becomes nonzero and activates the axial anomaly that induces a finite axial charge density-imbalance in the number of left- and right-handed fermions-moving with the domain wall. This axial density in turn produces, via the chiral magnetic effect, an oscillating current flowing along the domain wall plane, resulting in a characteristic radiation of electromagnetic waves emanating from the domain wall. A detection of this radiation would constitute a direct measurement of the axial anomaly induced by axial electromagnetic fields.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Physical Society (APS), 2020
National Category
Condensed Matter Physics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-288417 (URN)10.1103/PhysRevB.102.241401 (DOI)000594989900003 ()2-s2.0-85097651151 (Scopus ID)
Note
QC 20210301
2021-03-012021-03-012024-01-31Bibliographically approved