Proposed experimental test for the paradoxical forces associated with the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift

Foundations of Physics Letters

Volumn 19, Issue 5, 2006, Pages 491-498

  Boyer, Timothy H ^a  

^a CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK   (United States)

Author keywords

Aharonov Bohm effect; Electromagnetic vector potential; Particle interference effects

Indexed keywords

EID: 33748302874     PISSN: 08949875     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10702-006-0907-7     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm, "Significance of electromagnetic potentials in quantum theory," Phys. Rev. 115, 485-491 (1959).
2. See, e.g., D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 1995), pp. 343-349, or
3. J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edn. (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994), pp. 136-139, 472-473.
4. W. Ehrenberg and R. E. Siday, "The refractive index in electron optics and the principles of dynamics," Proc. Phys. Soc. Lond. B 62, 8-21 (1949).
5. B. Liebowitz, "Significance of the Aharonov-Bohm effect," Nuovo Cimento 38, 932-950 (1965);
6. "Significance of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Rebuttal of a criticism," 46B, 125-127 (1966).
7. T. H. Boyer, "Classical electromagnetic deflections and lag effects associated with quantum interference pattern shifts: Considerations related to the Aharonov-Bohm effect," Phys. Rev. D 8, 1679-1693 (1973);
8. "The Aharonov-Bohm effect as a classical electromagnetic-lag effect: An electrostatic analogue and possible experimental test," Nuovo Cimento 100B, 685-701 (1987);
9. "Semiclassical explanation of the Matteucci-Pozzi and Aharonov-Bohm phase shifts," Found. Phys. 32, 41-49 (2002). The work by B. Liebowitz sees a need for new non-Lorentzian forces in order to explain the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift. My own work is entirely within the context of conventional classical electromagnetic theory.
10. G. Matteucci and G. Pozzi, "New diffraction experiment on the electrostatic Aharonov-Bohm effect," Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2469-2470 (1985).
11. T. H. Boyer, "Darwin-Lagrangian analysis for the interaction of a point charge and a magnet: Considerations related to the controversy regarding the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher phases shifts," J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39, 3455-3477 (2006).
12. S. Coleman and J. H. Van Vleck, "Origin of 'hidden momentum forces' on magnets," Phys. Rev. 171, 1370-1375 (1968).
13. W. Shockley and R. P. James, "'Try simplest cases' discovery of 'hidden momentum' forces on 'magnetic currents'," Phys. Rev. Lett. 18, 876-879 (1967).
14. T. H. Boyer, "Classical electromagnetic interaction of a charged particle with a constant-current solenoid," Phys. Rev. D 8, 1667-1679 (1973).
15. R. G. Chambers, "Shift of an electron interference pattern by enclosed magnetic flux," Phys. Rev. Lett. 5, 3-5 (1960),
16. first observed the phase shift. M. Peshkin and A. Tonomura, The Aharonov-Bohm Effect (Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. 340) (Springer, New York, 1989), give extensive references to the experimental tests.
17. T. H. Boyer, "Misinterpretation of the Aharonov-Bohm effect," Am. J. Phys. 40, 56-59 (1972).
18. R. J. Cook, H. Fearn, and P. W. Milonni, "Fizeau's experiment and the Aharonov-Bohm effect," Am. J. Phys. 63, 705-710 (1995).
19. These articles point out that the form taken by the phase shift is sometimes presented incorrectly as, for example, in The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. II (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1964), Sec. 15-5.
20. See G. Matteucci and G. Pozzi, "New diffraction experiment on the electrostatic Aharonov-Bohm effect," Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2469-2470 (1985),
21. and T. H. Boyer, "Semiclassical explanation of the Matteucci-Pozzi and Aharonov-Bohm phase shifts," Found. Phys. 32, 41-49 (2002).