Mixed anomaly
In theoretical physics, a mixed anomaly is an example of an anomaly: it is an effect of quantum mechanics — usually a one-loop diagram — that implies that the classically valid general covariance and gauge symmetry of a theory of general relativity combined with gauge fields and fermionic fields cannot be preserved simultaneously in the quantum theory.
The adjective "mixed" usually refers to a mixture of a gravitational anomaly and gauge anomaly, but may also refer to a mixture of two different gauge groups tensored together, like the SU and the U of the Standard Model.
The anomaly usually appears as a Feynman diagram with a chiral fermion running in the loop with n−k external gravitons and k external gauge bosons attached to the loop where where is the spacetime dimension. Chiral fermions only occur in even spacetime dimensions. For example, the anomalies in the usual 4 spacetime dimensions arise from triangle Feynman diagrams.
Image:Triangle diagram.svg
General covariance and gauge symmetries are very important symmetries for the consistency of the whole theory, and therefore all gravitational, gauge, and mixed anomalies must cancel out.