Our new manuscript discussing coherence in the Aharonov-Bohm effect is out now!
The Aharonov-Bohm effect consists of the influence of a magnetic flux in the dynamics of a charge that encircles it, even if the charge only travels in a region where the magnetic field vanishes. This happens because the Hamiltonian contains the vector potential, which is generally not constant in regions where the field vanishes. While the calculations lead to a clear physical influence of the flux in the charge’s state, the state of the charge during the loop depends on the choice of electromagnetic gauge, which is non-physical.
In our new work, we use a measure known as realism to analyze the role of quantum coherence on the eigenbases of multiple observables before the charge completes its loop. In particular, we find the eigenbases that lead to gauge invariant realism and, at the same time, are sensitive to the magnetic flux. We consider both the standard case of a classical flux and also the case of a quantized one.
You can click here to check the manuscript on the arXiv. Work conducted with Pedro R. Dieguez, Renato M. Angelo, and Eliahu Cohen.