Despite theoretical expectations for 2D Weyl semimetals (WSMs), realizing stable 2D topological semimetal states experimentally is currently a great challenge. Here, 2D WSM states achieved by a thickness-dependent topological phase transition from 3D Dirac semimetal to 2D WSM in molecular-beam-epitaxy-grown Bi0.96Sb0.04 thin films are reported. 2D weak anti-localization (WAL) and chiral anomaly arise in the Bi0.96Sb0.04 films for thicknesses below ≈10 nm, supporting 2D Weyl semimetallic transport in the films. This is particularly evident from magnetoresistance (MR) measurements which show cusp structures at around B = 0, indicating WAL, and negative MR, typical of chiral anomaly, only for layers with thicknesses below ≈10 nm. The temperature dependencies of the dephasing length for various thicknesses are consistent with those of the MR. Analysis based on second harmonic generation, terahertz emission, Seebeck/Hall effects, Raman scattering, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemiss
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Modern cosmology has been remarkably successful in describing the universe from a second after the Big Bang until today. However, its physics before that time is still much less certain. It profoundly involves particle theory beyond the Standard Model to explain long-standing puzzles: the origin of the observed matter asymmetry, and massive neutrinos, as well as the particle physics of dark matter and cosmic inflation. In this talk, I will explain that a new framework based on embedding axion-inflation in left-right symmetric gauge extensions of the SM can possibly solve and relate these seemingly unrelated mysteries of modern cosmology. The baryon asymmetry and dark matter today may be remnants of a pure quantum effect (chiral anomaly) in inflation which is the source of CP violation in inflation. As a smoking gun, this setup has robust observable signatures for the GW background to be probed by future