Electric and chiral response to a pseudoelectric field in Weyl materials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the electric and chiral responses of Weyl semimetals to a dynamic pseudoelectric field, revealing a novel anomalous pseudo-Hall effect and unique frequency-dependent conductivities.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of the anomalous pseudo-Hall effect and analyzes the nontrivial chiral current response to pseudoelectric fields in Weyl semimetals.

Findings

Discovery of the anomalous pseudo-Hall effect in Weyl semimetals.

Identification of a step-like frequency profile in chiral conductivity.

Nontrivial behavior of chiral and valley currents under pseudoelectric fields.

Abstract

The electric and chiral current response to the time- and coordinate-dependent pseudoelectric field $\mathbf{E}_5$ in Weyl semimetals is studied. It is found that $\mathbf{E}_5$ leads to an electric current in the direction perpendicular to the field and the wave vector of the field-inducing perturbation. We dubbed this phenomenon the anomalous pseudo-Hall effect. The response of the chiral or valley current to the pseudoelectric field is also found to be nontrivial. Since the wave vector for $\mathbf{E}_5$ cannot be neglected, the frequency profile of the chiral conductivity is drastically different from its electric counterpart showing a step-like feature instead of a smooth Drude peak. The proposed effects can be investigated by driving sound waves in Weyl semimetals with broken time-reversal symmetry.