Aharonov-Bohm Radiation

TL;DR

This paper investigates particle and photon emission caused by the Aharonov-Bohm effect in oscillating solenoids and cosmic strings, revealing potential observable signatures from cosmic string kinks.

Contribution

It extends the analysis of Aharonov-Bohm radiation from solenoids to cosmic strings, highlighting the significance of kinks as sources of detectable radiation.

Findings

Charged scalar particles are emitted by oscillating solenoids due to AB interaction.

Cosmic string kinks emit photons, potentially more observable than cusps.

Enhanced radiation from kinks suggests new observational signatures for cosmic strings.

Abstract

A solenoid oscillating in vacuum will pair produce charged particles due to the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interaction. We calculate the radiation pattern and power emitted for charged scalar particles. We extend the solenoid analysis to cosmic strings, and find enhanced radiation from cusps and kinks on loops. We argue by analogy with the electromagnetic AB interaction that cosmic strings should emit photons due to the gravitational AB interaction of fields in the conical spacetime of a cosmic string. We calculate the emission from a kink and find that it is of similar order as emission from a cusp, but kinks are vastly more numerous than cusps and may provide a more interesting observational signature.