Abstract

We study the effects of short-range interactions on a generalized three-dimensional Weyl semimetal, where the band touching points act as the (anti) monopoles of Abelian Berry curvature of strength n. We show that any local interaction has a negative scaling dimension -2/n. Consequently, all Weyl semimetals are stable against weak short-range interactions. For sufficiently strong interactions, we demonstrate that the Weyl semimetal either undergoes a first-order transition into a band insulator or a continuous transition into a symmetry breaking phase. A translational symmetry breaking axion insulator and a rotational symmetry breaking semimetal are two prominent candidates for the broken symmetry phase. At the one-loop order, the correlation length exponent for continuous transitions is upsilon = n/2, indicating their non-Gaussian nature for any n > 1. We also discuss the scaling of the thermodynamic and transport quantities in general Weyl semimetals as well as inside broken symmetry phases.

Publication Details
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2017
Volume
95
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.95.201102
Journal
Physical Review B
Contributors
Groups