Strain induced Chiral Magnetic Effect in Weyl semimetals

We argue that strain applied to a time-reversal and inversion breaking Weyl semi-metal in a magnetic field can induce an electric current via the chiral magnetic effect. A tight binding model is used to show that strain generically changes the locations in the Brillouin zone but also the energies of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2016-07
Main Authors: Cortijo, Alberto, Kharzeev, Dmitri, Landsteiner, Karl, Vozmediano, María A H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brillouin zones
Cones
Magnetic effects
Metalloids
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We argue that strain applied to a time-reversal and inversion breaking Weyl semi-metal in a magnetic field can induce an electric current via the chiral magnetic effect. A tight binding model is used to show that strain generically changes the locations in the Brillouin zone but also the energies of the band touching points (tips of the Weyl cones). Since axial charge in a Weyl semi-metal can relax via inter-valley scattering processes the induced current will decay with a timescale given by the lifetime of a chiral quasiparticle. We estimate the strength and lifetime of the current for typical material parameters and find that it should be experimentally observable.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1607.03491