Chiral Anomaly in Euler Fluid and Beltrami Flow

Abstract

We show that the chiral anomaly of quantum field theories with Dirac fermions subject to an axial background field is an inherent property of kinematics of a perfect classical fluid. Celebrated Beltrami flows (stationary solutions of Euler equations with extensive helicity) exhibit the chiral anomaly equivalent to that known for Dirac fermions. A prominent effect of the chiral anomaly is the transport electric current at equilibrium. We show that it is also a property of Beltrami flows.