Feynman paradox in a spherical axion insulator

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Chyzhykova, Anastasiia, Brink, Jeroen van den, Nogueira, Flavio S.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Chyzhykova, Anastasiia
Brink, Jeroen van den
Nogueira, Flavio S.
author_facet Chyzhykova, Anastasiia
Brink, Jeroen van den
Nogueira, Flavio S.
contents We show that a small charged probe near a spherical topological insulator causes the latter to rotate around a symmetry axis defined by the center of the sphere and the position of the charge outside the latter. The rotation occurs when the distance from the charge to the center of the sphere is changed. This phenomenon occurs due to induced static fields and is a consequence of the axion electrodynamics underlying the electromagnetic response of a topological insulator. Assuming a regime where the charged probe can be regarded as a point charge $q=Ne$, where $N$ is a positive integer and $e$ is the elementary electric charge, we obtain that the rotation frequency is given by $ω=(Nα)^2Υ(ε,d/a)/I$, where $I$ is the moment of inertia, $α$ is the fine-structure constant, and the function $Υ$ depends on the dielectric constant $ε$ and the relative distance $d/a$ of the charge from the center of the sphere of radius $a$. Since the point charge also induces Hall currents on the surface, we compute also their associated angular momentum. This allows us to derive an exact expression for the electronic velocity on the surface as a function of $a/d$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_10436
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Feynman paradox in a spherical axion insulator
Chyzhykova, Anastasiia
Brink, Jeroen van den
Nogueira, Flavio S.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
We show that a small charged probe near a spherical topological insulator causes the latter to rotate around a symmetry axis defined by the center of the sphere and the position of the charge outside the latter. The rotation occurs when the distance from the charge to the center of the sphere is changed. This phenomenon occurs due to induced static fields and is a consequence of the axion electrodynamics underlying the electromagnetic response of a topological insulator. Assuming a regime where the charged probe can be regarded as a point charge $q=Ne$, where $N$ is a positive integer and $e$ is the elementary electric charge, we obtain that the rotation frequency is given by $ω=(Nα)^2Υ(ε,d/a)/I$, where $I$ is the moment of inertia, $α$ is the fine-structure constant, and the function $Υ$ depends on the dielectric constant $ε$ and the relative distance $d/a$ of the charge from the center of the sphere of radius $a$. Since the point charge also induces Hall currents on the surface, we compute also their associated angular momentum. This allows us to derive an exact expression for the electronic velocity on the surface as a function of $a/d$.
title Feynman paradox in a spherical axion insulator
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10436