Dynamical axion in topological superconductors and superfluids

Abstract

We consider dynamical axion phenomena in topological superconductors and superfluids in three spatial dimensions in terms of the gravitoelectromagnetic topological action, in which the axion field couples with mechanical rotation under finite-temperature gradient. The dynamical axion is induced by relative phase fluctuations between topological and s-wave superconducting orders. We show that an antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction which induces parity mixing of Cooper pairs enlarges the parameter region in which the dynamical axion fluctuation appears as a low-energy excitation. We propose that the dynamical axion increases the moment of inertia, and in the case of ac mechanical rotation, i.e., a shaking motion with a finite frequency ω, as ω approaches the dynamical axion fluctuation mass, the observation of this effect becomes feasible.

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