The Aharonov Bohm effect as a material phenomenon

TL;DR

This paper explores the Aharonov-Bohm effect through a detailed microscopic analysis, demonstrating the local nature of phase changes in quantum systems with magnetic flux, and discusses experimental implications including shielding effects.

Contribution

It provides a new microscopic perspective on the Aharonov-Bohm effect, clarifying the locality of phase changes and analyzing experimental setups with superconducting shielding.

Findings

The vector potential's effect can be explained through local interactions.

The phase change mechanism is shown to be local, countering nonlocal interpretations.

Shielding with superconductors affects the observable quantum phase shifts.

Abstract

An experiment to observe the Aharonov-Bohm effect is discussed. A solenoid which consists of a large number of point magnetic dipoles is considered as the source of a vector potential, which acts on a charged particle, and such potential has an electromagnetic field of zero strength in the region of a nonzero vector potential. A detailed microscopic analysis of the change in the quantum state phase of the entire system, namely, a particle and a set of dipoles, reveals the origin of the apparent nonlocality of the action of the vector potential, and shows the locality of the phase change mechanism. An analysis of an experiment with a solenoid shielded by a superconducting shell is given.