Global Analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm Effect

Author: Navin, Robert Lloyd

Year: 1993

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisors: Preskill, John P.; Schwarz, John H.

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/crgk-1x57

Abstract

This thesis deals with a global analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect previously pointed out by other authors. The effect was not well understood because the pure Aharonov-Bohm cross section was thought to be merely an approximate low energy limit. This thesis provides a detailed analysis and reveals that in the particular model considered, there is an exact Aharonov-Bohm cross section over the energy range that a mass splitting occurs. At energies slightly above the mass splitting, the effect has completely disappeared and there is effectively no scattering at large distances. This is a curious observation as it was previously thought that a global theory would not act exactly like a local one over an extended range of energies. It begs the heretical speculation that experimentally observed forces modelled with Lagrangians possessing local symmetries may have an underlying global theory.

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