Photon mass and quantum effects of the Aharonov-Bohm type

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a nonzero photon mass affects quantum phenomena like the Aharonov-Bohm effect, proposing experiments to set new, much tighter limits on photon mass through observable quantum interference modifications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that photon mass influences quantum effects and proposes a tabletop experiment to significantly improve existing bounds on photon mass.

Findings

Photon mass modifies Aharonov-Bohm effect results.

Proposed experiment can improve photon mass limit by 6 orders of magnitude.

Achieves a limit of approximately 10^{-51} grams on photon mass.

Abstract

The magnetic field due to the photon rest mass $m_{ph}$ modifies the standard results of the Aharonov-Bohm effect for electrons, and of other recent quantum effects. For the effect involving a coherent superposition of beams of particles with opposite electromagnetic properties, by means of a table-top experiment, the limit $m_{ph}x10^{-51}g$ is achievable, improving by 6 orders of magnitude that derived by Boulware and Deser for the Aharonov-Bohm effect.