The Chiral Magnetic Effect and Axial Anomalies

We give an elementary derivation of the chiral magnetic effect based on a strong magnetic field lowest-Landau-level projection in conjunction with the well-known axial anomalies in two- and four-dimensional space-time. The argument is general, based on a Schur decomposition of the Dirac operator. In the dimensionally reduced theory, the chiral magnetic effect is directly related to the relativistic form of the Peierls instability, leading to a spiral form of the condensate, the chiral magnetic spiral. We then discuss the competition between spin projection, due to a strong magnetic field, and chirality projection, due to an instanton, for light fermions in QCD and QED. The resulting asymmetric distortion of the zero modes and near-zero modes is another aspect of the chiral magnetic effect.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A. Schmitt, H.-U. Ye