Axial anomaly, Dirac sea, and the chiral magnetic effect

TL;DR

This paper explains the physics behind the chiral magnetic effect, linking axial anomaly and Dirac sea concepts, and discusses recent advances in understanding how magnetic fields induce observable electric currents in chirality-imbalanced systems.

Contribution

It provides an elementary introduction to CME physics and explores recent developments connecting axial anomaly, Dirac sea, and observable electric currents.

Findings

CME arises from axial anomaly and Dirac sea physics.

External magnetic fields induce electric currents in chirality-imbalanced systems.

Recent theoretical progress enhances understanding of CME mechanisms.

Abstract

Gribov viewed the axial anomaly as a manifestation of the collective motion of charged fermions with arbitrarily high momenta in the vacuum. In the presence of an external magnetic field and a chirality imbalance, this collective motion becomes directly observable in the form of the electric current - this is the chiral magnetic effect (CME). I give an elementary introduction into the physics of CME, and discuss some recent developments.