Chiral anomalies in three-dimensional spin-orbit coupled metals: Electrical, thermal, and gravitational anomalies
Sunit Das, Kamal Das, Amit Agarwal
Abstract
The discovery of chiral anomaly in Weyl semimetals, the nonconservation of chiral charge and energy across two opposite chirality Weyl nodes, has sparked immense interest in understanding its impact on various physical phenomena. Here, we demonstrate the existence of electrical, thermal, and gravitational quantum chiral anomalies in three-dimensional (3D) spin-orbit coupled systems. Notably, these anomalies involve chiral charge transfer across two Fermi surfaces linked to a single Weyl-type point, rather than across opposite chirality Weyl nodes as in Weyl semimetals. Our findings reveal that the Berry curvature flux piercing the Fermi surface plays a critical role in distinguishing the ``chirality'' of the carriers and the corresponding chiral charge and energy transfer. Importantly, we demonstrate that these quantum chiral anomalies lead to interesting thermal spin transport such as the spin Nernst effect. Our results suggest that 3D spin-orbit coupled metals offer a promising platform for investigating the interplay between quantum chiral anomalies and charge and spin transport in nonrelativistic systems.