Unbounded quantum backflow in two dimensions

Abstract

Quantum backflow refers to the counterintuitive fact that the probability can flow in the direction opposite to the momentum of a quantum particle. This phenomenon has been seen to be small and fragile for one-dimensional systems, in which the maximal amount of backflow has been found to be bounded. Quantum backflow exhibits dramatically different features in two-dimensional systems that, contrary to the one-dimensional case, allow for degenerate energy eigenstates. Here we investigate the case of a charged particle that is confined to move on a finite disk punctured at the center and that is pierced through the center, and normally to the disk, by a magnetic flux line. We demonstrate that quantum backflow can be unbounded (in a certain sense), which makes this system a promising physical platform regarding the yet-to-be-performed experimental observation of this fundamental quantum phenomenon.

11 pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (6)

• Entanglement and superposition are equivalent concepts in any physical theory
• Demonstrating backflow in classical two beams' interference
• Decay of a quasi-stable quantum system and quantum backflow
• Equivalence between quantum backflow and classically forbidden probability flow in a diffraction-in-time problem
• Interference of spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates
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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Azimuthal backflow in light carrying orbital angular momentum
• Time-of-arrival distributions for continuous quantum systems and application to quantum backflow
• Observation of single-photon azimuthal backflow with weak measurement
• Quantum backflow current in a ring: Optimal bounds and fractality
• Quantum backflow for two identical particles
• Simulating quantum backflow on a quantum computer
• Preparing Quantum Backflow States by Large Momentum Transfer
• Magnetic tuning of quantum backflow: Schrödinger vs Pauli system