Lorentz invariance violation and the CPT-odd electromagnetic response of a tilted anisotropic Weyl semimetal

Abstract

We derive the electromagnetic response of a particular fermionic sector in the minimal QED contribution to the Standard Model Extension (SME), which can be physically realized in terms of a model describing a tilted and anisotropic Weyl semimetal (WSM). The contact is made through the identification of the Dirac-like Hamiltonian resulting from the SME with that corresponding to the WSM in the linearized tight-binding approximation. We first calculate the effective action by computing the non-perturbative vacuum polarization tensor using thermal field theory techniques, focusing upon the corrections at finite chemical potential and zero temperature. Next, we confirm our results by a direct calculation of the anomalous Hall current within a chiral kinetic theory approach. In an ideal Dirac cone picture of the WSM (isotropic and non-tilted) such response is known to be governed by axion electrodynamics, with the space-time dependent axion angle $\Theta (\mathbf{r},t) = 2 (\mathbf{b} \cdot \mathbf{r} - b _{0} t)$, being $2 \mathbf{b}$ and $2b _{0}$ the separation of the Weyl nodes in momentum and energy, respectively. In this paper we demonstrate that the node tilting and the anisotropies induce novel corrections at a finite density which however preserve the structure of the axionic field theory. We apply our results to the ideal Weyl semimetal $\mathrm{EuCd}_{2}\mathrm{As}_{2}$ and to the highly anisotropic and tilted monopnictide $\mathrm{TaAs}$.