Rev. Mod. Phys. 57, 339 - 436 (1985)

The quantum effects of electromagnetic fluxes

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S. Olariu
Central Institute of Physics, Bucharest/Magurele, Romania

I. Iovitzu Popescu
Department of Physics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

This paper is a review of the problem of the observable action of enclosed electromagnetic fluxes on the quantum-mechanical state of charged particles, known as the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The authors first describe the quantum effects of the fluxes in the quasiclassical approximation, and discuss their relation with basic quantum-mechanical principles. Then they examine the influence of modeling assumptions on the predicted effects of enclosed fluxes. They analyze the experiments demonstrating the reality of the quantum effects of electromagnetic and gravitational fluxes, and finally discuss the physical significance of these quantum effects, comparing the current interpretation, based on the concept of a nonintegrable phase factor, with alternative approaches.


©1985 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v57/p339
DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.57.339

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