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arXiv:hep-th/9411175 · Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields

Aharonov-Bohm scattering of a localized wave packet: Analysis of the forward direction

Davide Stelitano

Published May 15, 1995• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Aharonov-Bohm scattering of a localized wave packet is considered. A careful analysis of the forward direction points out new results: according to the time-dependent solution obtained by means of the asymptotic representation for the propagator (kernel), a phenomenon of autointerference occurs along the forward direction, where, also, the probability density current is evaluated and found finite.

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.51.5876

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The Aharonov-Bohm scattering of a localized wave packet is considered. A careful analysis of the forward direction points out new results: according to the time-dependent solution obtained by means of the asymptotic representation for the propagator (kernel), a phenomenon of autointerference occurs along the forward direction, where, also, the probability density current is evaluated and found finite.
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.
It is shown that the Aharonov-Bohm scattering cross section diverges. This presents a problem since the range of the scattering force (Lorentz force) is finite. The cross section found by Aharonov and Bohm (AB) results whether one takes an incident wave function corresponding to particles moving in the incident direction, as was done by AB, or just takes the incident state to be a plane wave. The mechanism by which a localized force results in an infinite cross section is not clear. This is an apparent contradiction to recent proofs that electrodynamics is a local theory.
The scattering problem under the influence of the Aharonov–Bohm (AB) potential is reconsidered. By solving the Lippmann–Schwinger (LS) equation we obtain the wave function of the scattering state in this system. In spite of working with a plane wave as an incident wave we obtain the same wave function as was given by Aharonov and Bohm. Another method to solve the scattering problem is given by making use of a modified version of Gordon’s idea, which was invented to consider the scattering by the Coulomb potential. These two methods give the same result, which guarantees the validity of taking an incident plane wave as usual to make an analysis of this scattering problem. The scattering problem by a solenoid of finite radius is also discussed, and we find that the vector potential of the solenoid affects the charged particles, even when the magnitude of the flux is an odd integer as well as a noninteger. It is shown that the unitarity of the S matrix holds provided that a plane wave is taken to be an incident one.