  The chiral anomaly is based on a non-conserved chiral charge and can happen
in Dirac fermion systems under the influence of external electromagnetic
fields. In this case, the spectral flow leads to a transfer of right- to
left-moving excitations or vice versa. The corresponding transfer of chiral
particles happens in momentum space. We here describe an intriguing way to
introduce the chiral anomaly into real space. Our system consists of two
quantum dots that are formed at the helical edge of a quantum spin Hall
insulator on the basis of three magnetic impurities. Such a setup gives rise to
fractional charges which we show to be sharp quantum numbers for large barrier
strength. Interestingly, it is possible to map the system onto a quantum spin
Hall ring in the presence of a flux pierced through the ring where the relative
angle between the magnetization directions of the impurities takes the role of
the flux. The chiral anomaly in this system is then directly related to the
excess occupation of particles in the two quantum dots. This analogy allows us
to predict an observable consequence of the chiral anomaly in real space.
