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Auteurs principaux: Grigoreva, Anna, Andreev, Anton, Glazman, Leonid
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20456
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author Grigoreva, Anna
Andreev, Anton
Glazman, Leonid
author_facet Grigoreva, Anna
Andreev, Anton
Glazman, Leonid
contents We study the electromagnetic (EM) response of the excitonic insulator phase of a time-reversal (TR) invariant Weyl semimetal (WSM). At low temperatures, the system develops two exciton condensates. The condensates are related to each other by TR symmetry and weakly coupled by a Josephson tunneling term. The latter leads to the formation of the Leggett mode [Number-phase fluctuations in two-band superconductors, Prog. Theor. Phys. 36, 901 (1966).] with a small gap. Our main finding is that the Leggett mode couples to the EM fields as a massive dynamical axion. This is a consequence of the chiral anomaly and the chiral magnetic effect in the parent WSM. Because of the small axion mass, its coupling to EM fields results in a giant anisotropic polarizability and birefringence in the presence of a static magnetic field. The photon-axion hybridization produces a polariton resonance near the axion gap.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_20456
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Axion electrodynamics and giant magnetic birefringence in Weyl excitonic insulators
Grigoreva, Anna
Andreev, Anton
Glazman, Leonid
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
We study the electromagnetic (EM) response of the excitonic insulator phase of a time-reversal (TR) invariant Weyl semimetal (WSM). At low temperatures, the system develops two exciton condensates. The condensates are related to each other by TR symmetry and weakly coupled by a Josephson tunneling term. The latter leads to the formation of the Leggett mode [Number-phase fluctuations in two-band superconductors, Prog. Theor. Phys. 36, 901 (1966).] with a small gap. Our main finding is that the Leggett mode couples to the EM fields as a massive dynamical axion. This is a consequence of the chiral anomaly and the chiral magnetic effect in the parent WSM. Because of the small axion mass, its coupling to EM fields results in a giant anisotropic polarizability and birefringence in the presence of a static magnetic field. The photon-axion hybridization produces a polariton resonance near the axion gap.
title Axion electrodynamics and giant magnetic birefringence in Weyl excitonic insulators
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20456