Surface States in Holographic Weyl Semimetals

TL;DR

This paper investigates the surface states of a strongly coupled Weyl semimetal using holography, revealing a universal surface electric current dependent on topology, which may inform understanding of anomalous transport phenomena.

Contribution

It provides the first numerical holographic analysis of surface states in strongly coupled Weyl semimetals, demonstrating a universal surface current tied to topological properties.

Findings

Surface current depends only on topological phase

Bulk-boundary correspondence holds at strong coupling

Surface current is universal and topology-dependent

Abstract

We study the surface states of a strongly coupled Weyl semimetal within holography. By explicit numerical computation of an inhomogeneous holographic Weyl semimetal we observe the appearance of an electric current restricted to the surface in presence of electric chemical potential. The total current is universal in the sense that it only depends on the topology of the phases showing that the bulk-boundary correspondence holds even at strong coupling. The implications of this result are subtle and may shed some light on anomalous transport at weak coupling.