Role of the non-locality of the vector potential in the Aharonov-Bohm effect

Abstract

When the electromagnetic potentials are expressed in the Coulomb gauge in terms of the electric and magnetic fields rather than the sources responsible for these fields they have a simple form that is non-local i.e. the potentials depend on the fields at every point in space. It is this non-locality of classical electrodynamics that is at first instance responsible for the puzzle associated with the Aharonov-Bohm effect: that its interference pattern is affected by fields in a region of space that the electron beam never enters.

v5. 12 pages, 1 Figure pdf. Two appendices added

References in corpus (6)

• Angular momentum of light
• Role of the non-locality of the vector potential in the Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Comments on "On vector potential of the Coulomb gauge"
• Can the Lorenz-gauge potentials be considered physical quantities?
• Does the Helmholtz theorem of vector decomposition apply to the wave fields of electromagnetic radiation?
• Quantization of the free electromagnetic field implies quantization of its angular momentum

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Role of the non-locality of the vector potential in the Aharonov-Bohm effect
• The transition from quantum field theory to one-particle quantum mechanics and a proposed interpretation of Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Does the Helmholtz theorem of vector decomposition apply to the wave fields of electromagnetic radiation?
• Decoupled Potential Integral Equations for Electromagnetic Scattering from Dielectric Objects
• A Non-Local Action for Electrodynamics: Duality Symmetry and the Aharonov-Bohm Effect, Revisited
• The classical counterpart of the Aharonov-Bohm phase
• On the paper 'Role of potentials in the Aharonov-Bohm effect'