Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2018
Abstract
We study the electromagnetic properties of dense QCD in the so-called Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave phase. This inhomogeneous phase exhibits a nontrivial topology that comes from the fermion sector due to the asymmetry of the lowest Landau level modes. The nontrivial topology manifests in the electromagnetic effective action via a chiral anomaly term $\theta F^{\mu\nu}\tilde{F}_{\mu\nu}$, with a dynamic axion field θ given by the phase of the Dual Chiral Density Wave condensate. The coupling of the axion with the electromagnetic field leads to several macroscopic effects that include, among others, an anomalous, nondissipative Hall current, an anomalous electric charge, magnetoelectricity, and the formation of a hybridized propagating mode known as an axion polariton. Connection to topological insulators and Weyls semimetals, as well as possible implications for heavy-ion collisions and neutron stars are all highlighted.
Comments
This article was originally published in Nuclear Physics B, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2018.04.009
This work is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).