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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Thermal response of the Nieh-Yan term

Carlos Hoyos1,*, Niko Jokela2,†, and José Manuel Penín3,4,‡

  • *Contact author: hoyoscarlos@uniovi.es
  • †Contact author: niko.jokela@helsinki.fi
  • ‡Contact author: jmanpen@gmail.com
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Phys. Rev. D 112, L081903 – Published 10 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kcdm-vvzv

Abstract

We reinterpret the Nieh-Yan (NY) anomaly using holography, finding that the U(1) axial symmetry remains unbroken and the axial current coupling to an external gauge field is conserved. Instead, the anomaly arises from a breakdown of Hodge duality relations between fermion bilinears due to symmetry constraints on one-form currents. We show that the axial response associated with the NY term is distinct from the chiral vortical effect and exhibits a characteristic T2 dependence. Torsion-induced axial transport decouples spin and axial charge dynamics, thereby clarifying the physical significance of the NY anomaly and motivating further field-theoretic and holographic studies.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, L081903– Published 10 October, 2025
  • Received 12 December 2024
  • Accepted 23 April 2025
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