Analog of gravitational anomaly in topological chiral superconductors
G. E. Volovik
Low Temperature Laboratory, Aalto University, P. O. Box 15100, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland
L. D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia
Abstract
It is known that the contribution of torsion to the equation for the
chiral Weyl fermions can be equivalently considered
in terms of the axial U(1) gauge field. In this scenario the
gravitational field transforms to the U(1) gauge field. Here we show
that in chiral superconductors the opposite scenario takes place: the
electromagnetic U(1) field serves as the spin connection for the
Bogoliubov fermionic quasiparticles. As a result the electromagnetic
field gives rise to the gravitational anomaly, which contains the extra
factor 1/3 in the corresponding Adler-Bell-Jackiw equation as compared
with the conventional chiral anomaly.
We also consider the gravitational anomaly produced in neutral Weyl
superfluids by the analog of the gravitational instanton, the process of
creation and annihilation of the 3D topological objects - hopfions. The
gravitational instanton leads to creation of the chiral charge.