New thermoelectric transport from the scale anomaly in Dirac/Weyl materials

The low energy effective description of Weyl and Dirac semimetals as massless Dirac fermions has given rise to new interpretations of thermal and thermo-electric transport phenomena in these materials, associated to quantum field theory predictions. In particular, quantum anomalies - most prominently the chiral anomaly - have provided a novel theoretical frame for the understanding of new magneto transport features. More recently thermal transport has taken the lead in relation with the gravitational anomaly. In this talk we will describe novel response functions associated to the scale anomaly in Dirac and Weyl semimetals [2]. I will try to provide the foundations and the results in a pedagogical way.

References:

[1] Generation of a Nernst current from the conformal anomaly in Dirac and Weyl semimetals, Maxim N. Chernodub, Alberto Cortijo, and M. A. H. Vozmediano, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 206601 (2018).
[2] Fingerprints of the conformal anomaly on the thermoelectric transport in Dirac and Weyl semimetals: Result from a Kubo formula, Vicente Arjona, Maxim N. Chernodub, María A. H. Vozmediano, Phys. Rev. B99 , 235123 (2019).
[3] Direct measurement of a beta function and an indirect check of the Schwinger effect near the boundary in Dirac-Weyl semimetals, M. N. Chernodub, M. A. H. Vozmediano, Phys. Rev. Res. 1 , 032002(R), (2019)