Probing the chiral anomaly and transport in Weyl semimetals*

The topological nature of Weyl semimetals is reflected in the Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly, an unusual bulk response where applying parallel electric ($\mathbf{E}$) and magnetic ($\mathbf{B}$) fields pumps electrons between nodes of opposite chirality at a rate proportional to $\mathbf{E}\cdot\mathbf{B}$. We argue that this pumping is measurable via nonlocal transport experiments, in the limit of weak internode scattering. Such nonlocal transport vanishes when the injected current and magnetic field are orthogonal, and therefore serves as a test of the chiral anomaly. I will also comment on the possibility of observing similar physics in the three-dimensional Dirac semimetallic phase proposed to exist in Na$_3$Bi and Cd$_3$As$_2$, which have been the subject of recent photoemission and transport experiments. Reference: arXiv preprint 1306.1234 (2013).