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Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Uniform asymptotic formula for the Aharonov Bohm wavefield

J H Hannay

Published May 11, 2016• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract A uniform asymptotic formula for the Aharonov–Bohm wavefield (that of a plane quantum wave scattered by a thin straight solenoid) far away from the solenoid is obtained in a direct way. Actually quite good accuracy is achieved even down to one wavelength away. The error is numerically of order radius^(−3/2) for all values of polar angle, including directly forwards. Several previous formulas, uniform and otherwise, for the far field limit exist in the literature. All contain the essential ingredient: the Fresnel integral (complex error function), but ordinarily the error in these formulas is of order radius^(−1/2) in the forwards direction where the Fresnel contribution is most important.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/49/24/245202

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Abstract A uniform asymptotic formula for the Aharonov–Bohm wavefield (that of a plane quantum wave scattered by a thin straight solenoid) far away from the solenoid is obtained in a direct way. Actually quite good accuracy is achieved even down to one wavelength away. The error is numerically of order radius^(−3/2) for all values of polar angle, including directly forwards. Several previous formulas, uniform and otherwise, for the far field limit exist in the literature. All contain the essential ingredient: the Fresnel integral (complex error function), but ordinarily the error in these formulas is of order radius^(−1/2) in the forwards direction where the Fresnel contribution is most important.
The exact wave functions that describe scattering of a charged particle by a confined magnetic field (Aharonov-Bohm effect) and by a Coulomb field are analyzed. It is well known that the usual procedure of finding asymptotic forms of these functions which admit a separation into a superposition of an incident plane wave and a circular or spherical scattered wave is problematic near the forward direction. It thus appears to be impossible to express the conservation of probability by means of an optical theorem of the usual kind. Both the total cross section and the forward scattering amplitude appear to be infinite. To address these difficulties we find a new representation for the asymptotic form of the Aharonov-Bohm wave function that is valid for all angles. Rather than try to define a cross section at forward angles, however, we work instead with the probability current and find that it is quite well behaved. The same is true for Coulomb scattering. We trace the usual difficulties to a nonuniformity of limits.
The Aharonov-Bohm effect is reconsidered as a scattering event of an electron by a magnetic field confined in an infinite solenoid of finite radius both in the situation where the solenoid is penetrable as well as impenetrable. We next discuss the validity of the Born approximation for the partial-wave scattering amplitudes and explain why for the cylindrically symmetric (m=0)(m=0)(m=0) partial wave the first Born approximation fails in the long-wavelength limit or as the radius of the solenoid shrinks to zero.
We briefly review the scattering theory for the Schrödinger operator related to the Aharonov-Bohm effect, by exhibiting some explicitly solvable models; an infinitesimally thin solenoid in mathbb{R}^{2}, two infinitesimally thin solenoids with the quantized magnetic fluxes in mathbb{R}^{2}, and an infinitesimally thin ring solenoid with the quantized magnetic flux in mathbb{R}^{3}. We give explicit formulas for the incoming wave solution and the scattering amplitude for these models in terms of some special functions, with the graphs obtained by a numerical method. We also review known high-energy asymptotic formulas related to these examples.