Charge screening in the Higgs phase of Chern-Simons electrodynamics

TL;DR

In the Higgs phase of Chern-Simons electrodynamics, point charges are screened at large distances but can still engage in long-range Aharonov-Bohm interactions due to non-interacting screening charges, with implications for superselection sector classification.

Contribution

This paper demonstrates that screening charges in the Higgs phase do not interact with Aharonov-Bohm fields, providing a physical basis for classifying superselection sectors via a quasi-Hopf algebra.

Findings

Screened charges do not interact with Aharonov-Bohm fields.

The phenomenon persists with a Chern-Simons term included.

Supports classification of superselection sectors in the model.

Abstract

Though screened at large distances, a point-like electric charge can still participate in a long-range electromagnetic interaction in the Higgs phase, namely that with the Aharonov-Bohm field produced by a localized magnetic flux. We show that this follows from the fact that the screening charge, induced in the presence of a Higgs condensate, does not interact with the Aharonov-Bohm field. The same phenomenon occurs, if a Chern-Simons term is incorporated in the action. This observation provides a physical basis for the recently proposed classification of the superselection sectors of this model in terms of a quasi-Hopf algebra.