An anomalous propulsion mechanism

Abstract

We consider a gas of free chiral fermions trapped inside a uniform rotating spherical shell. Once the shell becomes transparent the fermions are emitted along the axis of rotation due to the chiral and mixed anomaly. In return, owing to momentum conservation, the shell is propelled forward. We study the dependence of the magnitude of this effect on the shell parameters in a controlled setting and find that it is sensitive to the formation of an ergosphere around the rotating shell. A brief discussion on a possible relation to pulsar kicks is provided.