Large anomalous magnetic moment in three-dimensional Dirac and Weyl semimetals

Abstract

We investigate the effect of Coulomb interactions on the electromagnetic response of three-dimensional Dirac and Weyl semimetals. In a calculation reminiscent of Schwinger's seminal work on quantum electrodynamics, we find three physically distinct effects for the anomalous magnetic moment of the relativisticlike quasiparticles in the semimetal. In the case of nonzero doping, the anomalous magnetic moment is finite at long wavelengths and typically orders of magnitude larger than Schwinger's result. We also find interesting effects of one of the three new Hamiltonian terms on the topological surface states at the interface between vacuum and a Weyl semimetal. We conclude that observation of these effects should be within experimental reach.