Comment on Experiments Related to the Aharonov-Bohm Phase Shift

TL;DR

This paper discusses recent experiments on the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift, highlighting the roles of resistive effects and classical versus quantum interpretations, and suggests further investigation into microscopic solenoids.

Contribution

It provides a critical commentary on recent experimental results, emphasizing the importance of resistive effects and the need for further exploration of classical lag explanations.

Findings

Resistive effects influence classical but not quantum phase shift analysis.

Absence of classical lag in macroscopic solenoids does not exclude lag explanations for microscopic ones.

Further experiments are needed to clarify classical versus quantum interpretations.

Abstract

Recent experiments undertaken by Caprez, Barwick, and Batelaan should clarify the connections between classical and quantum theories in connection with the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift. It is pointed out that resistive aspects for the solenoid current carriers play a role in the classical but not the quantum analysis for the phase shift. The observed absence of a classical lag effect for a macroscopic solenoid does not yet rule out the possibility of a lag explanation of the observed phase shift for a microscopic solenoid.