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Science China Mathematics

Neutral Spinning Particles in Electromagnetic Fields and Neutron Interference

Ding Xiu

Published Jan 1, 1994• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The dynamics of neutral spinning particles in electromagnetic fields is investigated. The phase interference of unpolarized neutron beams is reasonably interpreted as the observed spin precession in external fields instead of potential effects in the quantum physics; namely, the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher effects. It is also pointed out that the recent experiment claimed to be the verification of Aharonov-Casher phase with neutron interferometry, however, can be considered as a test of new anyon model.

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Complementarity with neutron two-path interferences and separated-oscillatory-field resonances

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ANALYSIS KUANTUM DAN VERIFIKASI EFEK AHARONOV-CASHER (QUANTUM ANALYSIS AND VERIFICATION OF THE AHAROVO V-CA SHER EFFECT)

Muslim Juliasih Partini

ABSTRACT\nThe interaction of charged and uncharged particles with intrinsic magnetic moment for the latter with an electromagnetic field in the microworld brings out the actual role of the electromagnetic potentials as emphasized in quantum theory which generate electromagnetic interaction via gauge invariance requirement.\nIn the Aharonov-Bohm (A-B) effect (dealing with two electron coherent beams passing a double slit system), the resulting interference pattern is shifted by the insertion of a very long solenoid between the two electron beams with an influence described by the magnetic vector\npotential A on the electron wave functions. Aharonov and Casher presented the complement of the Aharonov-Bohm effect involving the role of the electric scalar potential co on a beam of neutrons each carrying an internal magnetic dipole moment. A similar shift in the interference pattern is found involving two coherent neutron beam interference, where the solenoid in the A-B arrangement is replaced by an electric line charge, and the electrons by polarized neutrons. The effective Hamiltonian describing the two effects is used to determine the interference pattern.\nThe experiment to verify the existence of the Aharonov-Bohm effect which have been performed using an electron holography with a small toroidal ferromagnetic substance confining a magnetic flux by Tonomura in 1982 is discussed. The Aharonov-Casher effect, which was conducted using a Bonse-Hart single-crystal neutron interferometer by A. Cirnmino in 1989, is also discussed. Both experimental results lead to the same phenomenon: a phase shift in the observed pattern interference quantitatively explained as caused by the influence of the proper component of the electrodynamic potentials.\n\nKey Word: Kuantum, Aharonov- cahser

Teknosains•Jan 1, 2001•0 citations
The dynamics of neutral spinning particles in electromagnetic fields is investigated. The phase interference of unpolarized neutron beams is reasonably interpreted as the observed spin precession in external fields instead of potential effects in the quantum physics; namely, the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher effects. It is also pointed out that the recent experiment claimed to be the verification of Aharonov-Casher phase with neutron interferometry, however, can be considered as a test of new anyon model.
The special and unique techniques of neutron interferometry have been used to observe a number of topological effects. These include the quantum mechanical phase shift of a neutron due to the Earth's rotation (the quantum analog of the Michelson–Gale–Pearson experiment with light), the phase shift of a particle carrying a magnetic moment (a neutron) encircling a line charge (the Aharonov–Casher effect) and the scalar Aharonov–Bohm effect, observed with a pulsed magnetic field solenoid and time-of-flight neutron detection. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Aharonov–Bohm paper, we provide an overview of the neutron interferometry technique and a description of these three historic experiments.
The usual vector Aharonov–Bohm effect involves the quantum interference of electrons encircling a solenoid due to the magnetic vector potential. The analogous Aharonov–Casher effect was predicted for the neutron, which carries a magnetic dipole moment, encircling a line of electric charge . It was first observed by neutron interferometry, as described in this chapter. An analogous effect using neutrons and a pulsed magnetic solenoid in one leg of the interferometer has also been observed. This experiment using both polarized and unpolarized neutrons is described in this chapter. It is the first observation of the scalar Aharonov-Bohm effect. The idea of geometric phases was later shown to be pervasive in physics. These ideas were brought to full fruition in a neutron interferometry experiment in the late 1990s. The connections of this experiment with the helical field experiment of Bitter and Dubbers and the absorption experiment of Hasegawa are also discussed. The confinement-induced phase when neutrons move between narrow plates is another example of a non-local interaction of neutrons.
Experiments involving quantum interference of neutron de Broglie waves, having a wavelength A , extending over macroscopic distances of order are described. In particular I discuss interference induced by the Earth's gravitational field and by its rotation (Sagnac effect), the topological phase shifts resulting from the diffraction of the neutron, carrying its magnetic moment , around a charged electrode (Aharonov--Casher effect) and then finally during its passage through a pulsed magnetic field (scalar Aharonov--Bohm effect).
I show that neither local nonuniform classical acceleration nor spatial separation of the quantized spin components plays an essential role in a number of neutron interferometer experiments designed to detect phases ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}(B,E)$ akin to the Aharonov-Bohm phases. These neutral particle phases, which simply manifest quantum interference in spin space, can also be detected by single beams, as exemplified by a recent breakthrough experiment by Sangster et al.
The implications of complementarity on two-path neutron interferences and on separated-oscillatory-field resonances are discussed. The studies are extensions of those by Furry and Ramsey [Phys. Rev. 118, 623 (1960)] on two-path electron interferences which showed that an apparatus used to determine the electron path introduces uncertainties in the scalar and vector potentials which in turn disturb the phase of the electron wave function so much through the Aharonov-Bohm effects [Phys. Rev. 115, 485 (1959)] that the interference fringes disappear. A similar result is derived here for the neutron, but with the phase uncertainties coming from the magnetic moment's motion through an electric field as discussed by Anandan [Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 1660 (1982)], and Aharonov and Casher [Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 319 (1984)]. A corresponding result is also obtained for separated-oscillatory-fields resonances, which can be interpreted as an interference between two different paths in spin space. An interesting difference between the separated-path and separated-oscillatory-field experiments is that the latter may be interpreted classically.
ABSTRACT\nThe interaction of charged and uncharged particles with intrinsic magnetic moment for the latter with an electromagnetic field in the microworld brings out the actual role of the electromagnetic potentials as emphasized in quantum theory which generate electromagnetic interaction via gauge invariance requirement.\nIn the Aharonov-Bohm (A-B) effect (dealing with two electron coherent beams passing a double slit system), the resulting interference pattern is shifted by the insertion of a very long solenoid between the two electron beams with an influence described by the magnetic vector\npotential A on the electron wave functions. Aharonov and Casher presented the complement of the Aharonov-Bohm effect involving the role of the electric scalar potential co on a beam of neutrons each carrying an internal magnetic dipole moment. A similar shift in the interference pattern is found involving two coherent neutron beam interference, where the solenoid in the A-B arrangement is replaced by an electric line charge, and the electrons by polarized neutrons. The effective Hamiltonian describing the two effects is used to determine the interference pattern.\nThe experiment to verify the existence of the Aharonov-Bohm effect which have been performed using an electron holography with a small toroidal ferromagnetic substance confining a magnetic flux by Tonomura in 1982 is discussed. The Aharonov-Casher effect, which was conducted using a Bonse-Hart single-crystal neutron interferometer by A. Cirnmino in 1989, is also discussed. Both experimental results lead to the same phenomenon: a phase shift in the observed pattern interference quantitatively explained as caused by the influence of the proper component of the electrodynamic potentials.\n\nKey Word: Kuantum, Aharonov- cahser