Gauge invariance and anomalous theories at finite fermionic density
Abstract
We investigate the issue of stability of anomalous matter at finite fermionic density using a two-dimensional toy model. In particular, we pay careful attention to the issue of gauge invariance. We find that, contrary to some recent claims, the effective free energy (obtained by integrating out the fermions) cannot be obtained by the simple inclusion of a Chern-Simons term multiplying the fermionic chemical potential. We obtain some conditions for stability of anomalous charges when some finite density of conserved charge is present as well as for the neutral case. We also show that, under reasonable conditions, no sphaleron-type solution can exist in the toy model unless the anomalous charge density vanishes. We argue that this could be the case for more realistic models as well.