Published February 2018 | Version v1
Journal article

Wigner functions for fermions in strong magnetic fields

  • 1. University of Science and Technology of China, Interdisciplinary Center for Theoretical Study and Department of Modern Physics, Hefei, Anhui (China)
  • 2. Goethe University, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
  • 3. Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

Description

We compute the covariant Wigner function for spin-(1/2) fermions in an arbitrarily strong magnetic field by exactly solving the Dirac equation at non-zero fermion-number and chiral-charge densities. The Landau energy levels as well as a set of orthonormal eigenfunctions are found as solutions of the Dirac equation. With these orthonormal eigenfunctions we construct the fermion field operators and the corresponding Wigner-function operator. The Wigner function is obtained by taking the ensemble average of the Wigner-function operator in global thermodynamical equilibrium, i.e., at constant temperature T and non-zero fermion-number and chiral-charge chemical potentials μ and μ5, respectively. Extracting the vector and axial-vector components of the Wigner function, we reproduce the currents of the chiral magnetic and separation effect in an arbitrarily strong magnetic field. (orig.)

Availability note (English)

Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2018-12414-9

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
European Physical Journal. A
Journal Volume
54
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. 1-12
ISSN
1434-6001