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European Journal of Physics

Interaction of a moving magnetic dipole with a static electric field

Sami M. Al-Jaber, Xingshu Zhu, Walter C. Henneberger

Published Nov 1, 1991• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The authors examine the dynamics of a magnetic dipole in a static electric field. Applications of interest are the Aharonov-Casher effect and spin-orbit coupling. The ideal Aharonov-Casher effect is shown to involve a correlation between the moving particle and the internal coordinates of a voltage source. A similar relation has been demonstrated in the Aharonov-Bohm experiment. The authors also give a simple derivation of spin-orbit coupling based purely on nonrelativistic physics.

DOI
10.1088/0143-0807/12/6/004

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Physical Review A•Nov 1, 1987•110 citations
The authors examine the dynamics of a magnetic dipole in a static electric field. Applications of interest are the Aharonov-Casher effect and spin-orbit coupling. The ideal Aharonov-Casher effect is shown to involve a correlation between the moving particle and the internal coordinates of a voltage source. A similar relation has been demonstrated in the Aharonov-Bohm experiment. The authors also give a simple derivation of spin-orbit coupling based purely on nonrelativistic physics.
We briefly review the theoretical formulations and applications of the Aharonov--Bohm effect and the Aharonov--Casher effect with emphasis on mesoscopic physics. Topics relating to the Aharonov--Bohm effect include: locality, periodicity, non-integrable phase factors, Abelian gauge theory, interference, the spectrum and persistent current of electrons on a ring pierced by a magnetic field, Onsager reciprocity relations, and Aharonov--Bohm interferometer. Topics relating to the Aharonov--Casher effect include: a magnetic dipole in an electric field, locality, periodicity, non-Abelian gauge invariance, SU(2) non-integrable phase factors, spin-orbit coupling, Pauli equation, Rashba Hamiltonian, Aharonov--Casher interferometer, conductance and polarization in two-channel systems due to the Aharonov--Casher effect.
The dynamics of a spin-(1/2) neutral particle possessing electric- and magnetic-dipole moments interacting with external electric and magnetic fields in noncommutative coordinates is obtained. Noncommutativity of space is interposed in terms of a semiclassical constrained Hamiltonian system. The relation between the quantum phase acquired by a particle interacting with an electromagnetic field and the (semi)classical force acting on the system is examined and generalized to establish a formulation of the quantum phases in noncommutative coordinates. The general formalism is applied to physical systems yielding the Aharonov-Bohm, Aharonov-Casher, He-McKellar-Wilkens and Anandan phases in noncommutative coordinates. Bounds for the noncommutativity parameter θ are derived comparing the deformed phases with the experimental data on the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher phases.
We analyse the physical meaning of quantum phase effects for point-like charges and electric (magnetic) dipoles in an electromagnetic (EM) field. At present, there are known eight effects of such a kind: four of them (the magnetic and electric Aharonov – Bohm phases for electrons, the Aharonov – Casher phase for a moving magnetic dipole and the He – McKellar – Wilkens phase for a moving electric dipole) had been disclosed in 20th century, while four new quantum phases had recently been found by our team (A. L. Kholmetskii, O. V. Missevitch, T. Yarman). In our analysis of physical meaning of these phases, we adopt that a quantum phase for a dipole represents a superposition of quantum phases for each charge, composing the dipole. In this way, we demonstrate the failure of the Schrödinger equation for a charged particle in an EM field to describe new quantum phase effects, when the standard definition of the momentum operator is used. We further show that a consistent description of quantum phase effects for moving particles is achieved under appropriate re-definition of this operator, where the canonical momentum of particle in EM field is replaced by the interactional EM field momentum. Some implications of this result are discussed.
Classical electrodynamics foresees that the effective interaction force between a moving charge and a magnetic dipole is modified by the time-varying total momentum of the interaction fields. We derive the equations of motion of the particles from the total stress-energy tensor, assuming the validity of Maxwell’s equations and the total momentum conservation law. Applications to the effects of Aharonov–Bohm type show that the observed phase shift may be due to the relative lag between interfering particles caused by the effective local force.
The Aharonov-Casher (AC) effect for quantum motion of a neutral magnetized particle in the electric field is believed to be a topological effect closely related to the known Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. We study how it depends on the spin of the particle involved. Duality of the AB and AC effects is demonstrated to exist only for two extreme spin (and magnetic moment) projections. Classical consideration confirms the conclusion. Motion of a classical magnetized particle with generally oriented magnetic moment in the AC field appears to be subjected to both forces and torques. Only for two special orientations of the magnetic moment (same as in the quantum case) the motion is effectively free and similar to the AB motion of a charged particle. Thus, the AC effect is not really topological. Presence of higher multipoles totally destroys the possible AB-AC duality.
In 1984 Aharonov and Casher proposed that a beam of neutral particles with magnetic dipole moments passing around opposite sides of a line charge will undergo a relative quantum phase shift. This is currently under experimental investigation. Aharonov and Casher claimed that the magnetic dipole particles should undergo the phase shift despite experiencing no classical force. They suggested that this new effect has a ``duality'' with the solenoid Aharonov-Bohm effect where charged particles passing around a magnetic solenoid experience a phase shift despite, it is claimed, experiencing no classical force. Here it is pointed out that a magnetic dipole particle passing a line charge does indeed experience a classical electromagnetic force in the usual electric-current model for a magnetic dipole. This force will produce a relative lag between dipoles passing on opposite sides of the line charge, and the classical lag then leads to a quantum phase shift in exact agreement with that calculated by Aharonov and Casher. Thus actually the proposed Aharonov-Casher effect has a transparent explanation as a classical lag effect. It is emphasized that the solenoid Aharonov-Bohm effect is currently the only phase-shift effect which cannot be explained in an obvious fashion as arising from a classical lag and it is again proposed that also this shift may actually involve a classical electromagnetic lag effect. A natural experimental consequence suggested by the lag point of view is the breakdown of the interference pattern when the lag becomes comparable to the wave-packet coherence length.