2015/09/30 by Pablo L. Saldanha · 11 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Aharonov–Bohm effect #Charge (physics) #Charged particle #Classical mechanics #Electromagnetic field #Expression (computer science) #Lagrangian #Mathematical physics #Particle (ecology) #Physics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Set (abstract data type) #Superposition principle #hep-th #physics.class-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s13538-016-0417-4
published in Brazilian Journal of Physics 46(3), 316-320 (Springer Science+Business Media) · 5 pages, 1 figure. v2: Minor changes on the text. Some references were included
openalex publication_date 2016/04/06 · arxiv created 2016/04/11 · arxiv updated 2016/04/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We reintroduce an alternative expression for the Lagrangian density that governs the interaction of a charged particle with external electromagnetic fields, proposed by Livens about one century ago. This Lagrangian is written in terms of the local superposition of the particle fields with the applied electromagnetic fields, not in terms of the particle charge and of the electromagnetic potentials as is usual. Here we show that the total Lagrangian for a set of charged particles assumes a simple elegant form with the alternative formulation, giving an aesthetic support for it. We also show that the alternative Lagrangian is equivalent to the traditional one in their domain of validity and that it provides an interesting description of the Aharonov-Bohm effect.