ON A CHIRAL ANALOG OF THE EINSTEIN-de HAAS EFFECT
Zakharov V.I.

Received: November 17, 2014

DOI: 10.7868/S0044451015030106

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The Einstein-de Haas effect reveals a transfer of anguar momentum from microscopic constituents (electrons) to a macroscopic body, but in the case of massless fermions, one could expect the transfer of the chirality of constituents to macroscopic helical motion. For such a picture to be consistent, the macroscopic helicity is to be conserved classically, to echo the conservation of the angular momentum of a rotating body. The helicity conservation would in turn impose constraints on hydrodynamics of chiral liquids (whose constituents are massless fermions). Essentially, the chiral liquids are dissipation-free, on the classical level. Reservations and alternatives to this scenario are discussed. Contribution for the JETP special issue in honor of V. A. Rubakov's 60th birthday