Orthogonality catastrophe in a mesoscopic conductor due to a time-dependent flux

Abstract

We consider quantum fluctuations of current in a metallic loop induced by varying magnetic flux. The dependence of the fluctuations on the flux change $\Phi$ contains a logarithmically divergent term periodic in $\Phi$ with the period ${\Phi }_0=hc/e$. The fluctuation is smallest near $\Phi =n{\Phi }_0$. The divergence is explained by a comparison with the orthogonality catastrophe problem. The ${\Phi }_0-$periodicity is related with the discreteness of "attempts" in the binomial statistics picture of charge fluctuations.

8 pages, revtex 3.0, figures by request, M.I.T. preprint