Gravitational Analog of the Aharonov-Casher Effect

TL;DR

This paper explores a gravitational analog of the Aharonov-Casher effect, demonstrating a topological phase shift in systems involving spinning particles and massive objects in weak gravitational fields.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gravitational topological effect analogous to the electromagnetic Aharonov-Casher effect, extending the concept to cosmic strings and 2+1-dimensional gravity.

Findings

Topological phase shift observed in spinning particles with massive rods

Extension of the effect to cosmic strings

Analysis within 2+1-dimensional gravity context

Abstract

The gravitational interaction between a massive particle and a spinning particle in the weak-field limit is studied. We show that a system of a spinning point-like particle and a massive rod exhibit a topological effect analogous to the electromagnetic Aharonov-Casher effect. We discuss the effect also for systems with a cosmic string instead of a massive rod and in the context of 2+1-dimensional gravity.