Chiral magnetic superconductivity

TL;DR

Chiral magnetic superconductivity is a phenomenon where materials with chiral quasiparticles support a linearly growing electric current under parallel electric and magnetic fields, driven by quantum anomalies, and distinct from conventional superconductivity.

Contribution

This paper introduces the concept of chiral magnetic superconductivity, a new state driven by quantum chiral anomaly without Cooper pair condensation, applicable at higher temperatures.

Findings

Supports diverging DC conductivity in chiral materials.

Can be observed in AC measurements at high frequencies.

Potential impact on heavy ion collision physics.

Abstract

Materials with charged chiral quasiparticles in external parallel electric and magnetic fields can support an electric current that grows linearly in time, corresponding to diverging DC conductivity. From experimental viewpoint, this "Chiral Magnetic Superconductivity" (CMS) is thus analogous to conventional superconductivity. However the underlying physics is entirely different -- the CMS does not require a condensate of Cooper pairs breaking the gauge degeneracy, and is thus not accompanied by Meissner effect. Instead, it owes its existence to the (temperature-independent) quantum chiral anomaly and the conservation of chirality. As a result, this phenomenon can be expected to survive to much higher temperatures. Even though the chirality of quasiparticles is not strictly conserved in real materials, the chiral magnetic superconductivity should still exhibit itself in AC measurements at frequencies larger than the chirality-flipping rate, and in microstructures of Dirac and Weyl semimetals with thickness below the mean chirality-flipping length that is about 1-100 $\mu$m. In nuclear physics, the CMS should contribute to the charge-dependent elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions.