Dynamics of Weyl quasiparticles in an optical lattice.

We investigate the dynamics of the Weyl quasiparticles emerged in an optical lattice where the topological Weyl semimetal and trivial band insulator phases can be adjusted with the on-site energy. The evolution of the density distribution is demonstrated to have an anomalous velocity in the Weyl semimetal but a steady Zitterbewegung effect in the band insulator. Our analysis demonstrates that the chirality of the system can be directly determined from the positions of the atomic center of mass. Furthermore, the amplitude and the period of the relativistic Zitterbewegung oscillations are shown to be observable with the time-of-flight experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]