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Higher Rank Chiral Fermions in 3D Weyl Semimetals

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2021-02-19 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We report on exotic response properties in 3D time-reversal invariant Weyl semimetals with mirror symmetry. Despite having a vanishing anomalous Hall coefficient, we find that the momentum-space quadrupole moment formed by four Weyl nodes determines the coefficient of a mixed \emph{electromagnetic charge-stress} response, in which momentum flows perpendicular to an applied electric field, and electric charge accumulates on certain types of lattice defects. This response is described by a mixed Chern-Simons-like term in 3 spatial dimensions, which couples a rank-2 gauge field to the usual electromagnetic gauge field. On certain 2D surfaces of the bulk 3D Weyl semimetal, we find what we will call rank-2 chiral fermions, with ω=kxky\omega =k_x k_y dispersion. The intrinsically 2D rank-2 chiral fermions have a mixed charge-momentum anomaly which is cancelled by the bulk of the 3D system.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.08959,
  title  = {Higher Rank Chiral Fermions in 3D Weyl Semimetals},
  author = {Oleg Dubinkin and F. J. Burnell and Taylor L. Hughes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.08959},
  year   = {2021}
}

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5+3 pages