Chiral magnetic effect

TLDR

Topological charge changing transitions can induce chirality in the quark‑gluon plasma via the axial anomaly. The study investigates the equilibrium response of the quark‑gluon plasma to an external magnetic field and demonstrates that an electromagnetic current is generated along the field. The authors introduce a chiral chemical potential to mimic topological transitions and compute the resulting current’s magnitude as a function of magnetic field, chirality, temperature, and baryon chemical potential. The study confirms the chiral magnetic effect, showing that an electromagnetic current is generated along the magnetic field and quantifies its magnitude as a function of magnetic field, chirality, temperature, and baryon chemical potential.

Abstract

Topological charge changing transitions can induce chirality in the quark-gluon plasma by the axial anomaly. We study the equilibrium response of the quark-gluon plasma in such a situation to an external magnetic field. To mimic the effect of the topological charge changing transitions we will introduce a chiral chemical potential. We will show that an electromagnetic current is generated along the magnetic field. This is the chiral magnetic effect. We compute the magnitude of this current as a function of magnetic field, chirality, temperature, and baryon chemical potential.