Geometric phases form a rich subject in mathematical physics, lying at the intersection of differential geometry, functional analysis, and topology. This combination of ideas can make the subject difficult to approach for advanced undergraduate students, even though it is very rewarding. The aim of this thesis is to give a self-contained introduction to the mathematical framework behind geometric phases. Assuming only basic differential geometry, we develop the theory of vector bundles, connections, curvature, and holonomy, and use it to describe the Berry and Wilczek–Zee phases as holonomies of natural connections on complex vector bundles. We also discuss the Aharonov–Bohm effect as an example of a flat connection with globally nontrivial holonomy.
Geometric phases form a rich subject in mathematical physics, lying at the intersection of differential geometry, functional analysis, and topology. This combination of ideas can make the subject difficult to approach for advanced undergraduate students, even though it is very rewarding. The aim of this thesis is to give a self-contained introduction to the mathematical framework behind geometric phases. Assuming only basic differential geometry, we develop the theory of vector bundles, connections, curvature, and holonomy, and use it to describe the Berry and Wilczek–Zee phases as holonomies of natural connections on complex vector bundles. We also discuss the Aharonov–Bohm effect as an example of a flat connection with globally nontrivial holonomy.
T HE BERRY PHASE, A CENTRAL CONCEPT IN QUANTUM physics, is rooted in the state space structure of quantum theory and has a profound observable impact within a wide range of phenomena. The remarkably elegant interpretation of this geometric phase as the holonomy of a fiber bundle provides it with a mathematical framework capable of accounting for a broad spectrum of classical and quantum phenomena, such as, for example, the precession of a Foucault pendulum, the parallel transport of a vector on a sphere, the Aharonov-Bohm effect, the gauge theory of molecular physics, the electric polarization and orbital magnetization of solids, and the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects. The Berry phase is the central concept in topological band theory and provides the mechanism responsible for anyonic statistics in correlated many-body systems, a key element that could be used to achieve fault-tolerant quantum computation. In other words, the Berry phase is not just some fashionable idea useful for explaining a few exotic phenomena, but a generic feature of quantum mechanics and an essential ingredient necessary for a coherent understanding of basic quantum phenomena, such as, for example, the electronic properties of materials. It is therefore rather surprising that the full significance of geometric phases was practically ignored for more than fifty years prior to the publication of Berry’s work in 1984 [50]. In this chapter we discuss the basic physics that gives rise to these geometric phases, point out the elements that allow us to distinguish different types of holonomies, summarize the basic concepts relevant to understanding the mathematical structure of geometric phases, and mention a few relevant applications. The concepts and the mathematical framework introduced here will be used in subsequent chapters as the basis for describing the topological properties of condensed matter systems.
A geometric interpretation of Berry’s phase, its Wilczek–Zee non-Abelian generalization, and Aharonov–Bohm effect is given in terms of connections on principal fiber bundles. It is shown that a principal fiber bundle in all cases can be trivial while the connection and its holonomy group are nontrivial. Therefore the main role is played not by topological effects but geometrical ones. The Berry phase is also shown not to be connected to the adiabatic changes of the Hamiltonian parameters. 1
Abstract: This work develops a unified and gauge-invariant framework in which quantum interference is described as a measurement of relative holonomy between two coherent evolutions in a combined configuration space X = M × Λ. Both the Aharonov–Bohm (Abelian) and Wilczek–Zee (non-Abelian) effects appear as limits of a single Wilson-loop observable. A block connection is introduced on the direct-sum bundle E = H ⊕ (T X ⊗ ℂ), with structure group U(n) × O(p,q), thereby unifying Berry parallel transport and Levi-Civita geometry within one connection. The formalism ensures gauge and diffeomorphism covariance, analytic well-posedness under back-reaction, and establishes conditions for reconstructing the spacetime metric from holonomy data. The resulting theory provides a mathematically consistent and experimentally testable synthesis of geometric phase, interference, and spacetime connection. Potential physical implementations include mesoscopic rings, cold-atom systems, and superconducting circuits. Keywords: geometric phase; holonomy; Aharonov–Bohm effect; Berry phase; Wilczek–Zee connection; differential geometry; quantum interference; gauge theory.
Abstract Chapter 9 discusses the rigorous incorporation of electromagnetism in quantum mechanics via minimal substitution and the inclusion of spin, which leads to the Pauli equation. The gauge invariance of this formulation is inspected more closely, which leads us to understanding quantum mechanics as a gauge theory, and on to fascinating geometric effects such as the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the discovery of geometric phases such as the Berry phase and the Aharonov-Anandan phase. To give a better context to these effects, a compact introduction to the mathematical background of differential geometry is provided, introducing concepts such as differentiable manifolds, tangent and cotangent spaces, and maps between them, as well as from their elements to the real numbers, arriving at tensors and differential forms. With these tools at hand, we first define fibre bundles before formulating the previously discussed geometric phases as well as the so-called Dirac monopole in this language
The line bundles that arise in the holonomy interpretations of the geometric phase display curious similarities to those encountered in the statement of the Borel–Weil–Bott theorem of the representation theory. The remarkable relationship between the mathematical structure of the geometric phase and the classification theorem for complex line bundles provides the necessary tools for establishing the relevance of the Borel–Weil–Bott theorem to Berry’s adiabatic phase. This enables one to define a set of topological charges for arbitrary compact connected semisimple dynamical Lie groups. These charges signify the topological content of the phase. They can be explicitly computed. In this paper, the problem of the determination of the parameter space of the Hamiltonian is also addressed. It is shown that, in general, the parameter space is either a flag manifold or one of its submanifolds. A simple topological argument is presented to indicate the relation between the Riemannian structure on the parameter space and Berry’s connection. The results about the fiber bundles and group theory are used to introduce a procedure to reduce the problem of the nonadiabatic (geometric) phase to Berry’s adiabatic phase for cranked Hamiltonians. Finally, the possible relevance of the topological charges of the geometric phase to those of the non-Abelian monopoles is pointed out.
This thesis reviews fibre-bundle theory for the purpose of showing its equivalence to gauge theory and, in particular, utilizing fibre bundles to explain the origin of a quantum mechanical effect named the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. Initially, the mathematical preliminaries necessary to review fibre-bundle theory are presented. This includes topological manifolds, smooth manifolds, vector fields and 1-forms on smooth manifolds as well as Lie groups and their Lie algebras. Thereafter, fibre bundles are introduced. In particular, principal bundles, connections on principal bundles, parallel transport and associated bundles are studied. The electrons in the setup of the AB effect experience the effect of an electromagnetic potential and form an interference pattern on the screen they hit. The AB effect is described by a principal U(1)-bundle over R2\{0} and an associated complex line bundle with bundle space P xρ C, where P is the bundle space in the principal bundle and ρ a representation of U(1) on C defined ρ(x) = xq, for x in U(1) and q in Z. The vector potential A, on a simply connected subset U ⊂ R2\{0}, is given by A = ∇χU, for a smooth real-valued function χU. The complex scalar field, i.e. wave function, ψU: U → C of an electron with charge q has a local solution ψU = eiqχUψ0, where ψ0 satisfies the free Schrödinger equation. Consequentially, the holonomy is eiqΦ, where Φ is the total flux of the magnetic field.