The magnetic Schrödinger operator was studied on a figure 8-shaped graph.It is shown that for specially chosen vertex conditions, the spectrum of the magnetic operator is independent of the flux through one of the loops, provided the flux through the other loop is zero.Topological reasons for this effect are explained.
Abstract The Aharonov–Bohm (AB) effect has been highly influential in fundamental and applied physics. Its topological nature commonly implies that an electron encircling a magnetic flux source in a field-free region must close the loop in order to generate an observable effect. In this paper, we study a variant of the AB effect that apparently challenges this concept. The significance of weak values and nonlocal equations of motion is discussed as part of the analysis, shedding light on and connecting all these fundamental concepts.
The Aharonov-Bohm effect is a physical phenomenon in which the quantum state of a charged particle acquires a phase shift that is directly proportional to the magnetic flux, Φ, due to a (classical) magnetic field, B, which is confined in a spatial region from which the magnetic field cannot escape. Even though the charged particle is not allowed to interact with the magnetic field, it accumulates a phase shift that affects the interference pattern produced. Not surprisingly, this apparent nonlocality is puzzling and counter intuitive. In this work, we provide an explanation that explains the physics underlying this apparent nonlocality. We find that the role of the confined magnetic field is to impart a puncture in the configuration space, R2, of the charge. Therefore, the quantum state corresponding to the charged quantum particle acquires the phase shift due to its response to the modified topology of the configuration space, R2−{0}, corresponding to the charge.
The Aharonov-Bohm effect is a fundamental topological phenomenon with a wide range of applications. It consists of a charge encircling a region with a magnetic flux in a superposition of wave packets having their relative phase affected by the flux. In this work we analyze this effect using an entropic measure known as realism, originally introduced as a quantifier of a system's degree of reality and mathematically related to notions of global and local quantum coherence. More precisely, we look for observables that lead to gauge-invariant realism associated with the charge before it completes its loop. We find that the realism of these operators has a sudden change when the line connecting the center of both wave packets crosses the solenoid. Moreover, we consider the case of a quantized magnetic-field source, pointing out similarities and differences between the two cases. Finally, we discuss some consequences of these results.
In two-dimensional space, the topological coupling arising between charged particles with attached magnetic fluxes, via the Aharonov–Bohm effect, causes distinguishable particles to effectively acquire quantum statistics: a nontrivial quantum phase is generated when a particle of one species encircles one of a different species. We discuss a number of exact and numerical results concerning distinguishable particles with fractional statistics. Just like for anyons, the spectrum of such particles confined to the lowest Landau level of a strong magnetic field can be found exactly. Then a system of particles in the presence of static magnetic fluxes (equivalent to particles with infinite mass) is considered, and the low-lying states of one particle in the presence of two fluxes and two particles in the presence of one flux are analyzed.
Recent works showed that the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phase difference for a quantum charged particle can be written in terms of electric and magnetic fluxes in a space-time surface whose boundaries are the possible particle worldlines in the interferometer, relative to the possible paths. After presenting this result in a more detailed way, reinforcing its topological nature, we study the magnetic and electric versions of the AB effect in different inertial reference frames. We find a particular reference frame for a magnetic AB effect where the magnetic flux has a null contribution for the AB phase difference, which is entirely due to an electric flux. Also, we find a particular reference frame for an electric AB effect where the electric flux has a null contribution for the AB phase difference, which is entirely due to a magnetic flux. In this sense, the nomenclatures magnetic AB effect and electric AB effect lose their meaning. We have electromagnetic AB effects.