2014/08/16 by Timothy H. Boyer, Boyer, Timothy H. · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gyrotron and Vacuum Electronics Research #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1408.3745
openalex publication_date 2014/08/16 · openalex created_date 2022/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A new classical electromagnetic analysis is presented suggesting that the\nAharonov-Bohm phase shift is overwhelmingly likely to arise from a classical\nlag effect based upon classical electromagnetic forces. The analysis makes use\nof several aspects of classical electromagnetic theory which are unfamiliar to\nmost physicists, including the Darwin Lagrangian, acceleration-based electric\nfields, internal electromagnetic momentum in a magnet, and a magnet model\ninvolving at least three mutually-interacting particles. Only when the\nacceleration-based electric forces acting on the passing charge are included do\nwe find consistency with all the relativistic conservation laws: energy, linear\nmomentum, angular momentum, and constant center-of-mass velocity. The electric\nforces on the passing charge lead to a lag effect which accounts quantitatively\nfor the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift. Thus the classical analysis strongly\nsuggests that the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift (observed when electrons pass a\nlong solenoid which corresponds to a line of magnetic dipoles) is the analogue\nof the Matteucci-Pozzi phase shift (observed when electrons pass a line of\nelectric dipoles). The classical electromagnetic analysis suggests experiments\nto distinguish the proposed classical-based lag effect from the presently\naccepted view that the Aharonov-Bohm phase shift is a quantum topological\neffect arising from magnetic fluxes in the absence of classical electromagnetic\nforces.\n