Aharonov-Bohm effect and the mass of the photon

Journal Article · Mon Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Physical Review Letters; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.63.2319· OSTI ID:5013353

Boulware, D G ^[1]; Deser, S ^[2]

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1. Physics Department FM-15, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (USA)
2. Physics Department, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02254 (USA)

We show that the Aharonov-Bohm effect requires that the vector potential couple minimally to matter, not that it be a gauge field: The effect is present in massive (finite-range) electrodynamics, reducing smoothly to the original result in the limit of infinite range. Indeed, it may be used to provide an experimental bound on the range which is much larger than the table-top'' apparatus, namely a lower limit of order 10{sup 2} km.

• OSTI ID: 5013353
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (USA), Vol. 63:21; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
PHOTONS
MASS
ELECTRODYNAMICS
GAUGE INVARIANCE
LIMITING VALUES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
POTENTIALS
PROCA EQUATIONS
SOLENOIDS
VECTOR FIELDS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRIC COILS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
MASSLESS PARTICLES
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
645202* - High Energy Physics- Particle Interactions & Properties-Theoretical- Electromagnetic Interactions & Properties