991 research outputs found
Neutron Acceleration in Uniform Electromagnetic Fields
The question as to whether neutron acceleration can occur in uniform
electromagnetic fields is examined. Although such an effect has been predicted
using the canonical equations of motion some doubt has been raised recently as
to whether it is in principle observable for a spin 1/2 particle. To resolve
this issue a gedanken experiment is proposed and analyzed using a wave packet
construction for the neutron beam. By allowing arbitrary orientation for the
neutron spin as well as for the electric and magnetic fields a non vanishing
acceleration of the center of the neutron wave packet is found which confirms
the predictions of the canonical formalism.Comment: 11 page
Classical and Quantum Interaction of the Dipole
A unified and fully relativistic treatment of the interaction of the electric
and magnetic dipole moments of a particle with the electromagnetic field is
given. New forces on the particle due to the combined effect of electric and
magnetic dipoles are obtained. Four new experiments are proposed, three of
which would observe topological phase shifts.Comment: 10 pages, Latex/Revtex. Some minor errors have been correcte
Gravitational Phase Operator and Cosmic Strings
A quantum equivalence principle is formulated by means of a gravitational
phase operator which is an element of the Poincare group. This is applied to
the spinning cosmic string which suggests that it may (but not necessarily)
contain gravitational torsion. A new exact solution of the Einstein-
Cartan-Sciama-Kibble equations for the gravitational field with torsion is
obtained everywhere for a cosmic string with uniform energy density, spin
density and flux. A novel effect due to the quantized gravitational field of
the cosmic string on the wave function of a particle outside the string is used
to argue that spacetime points are not meaningful in quantum gravity.Comment: 22 pages, to be published Phys. Rev. D. Some minor changes have been
made and a reference has been added to the paper of D.V. Gal'tsov and P.S.
Letelier, Phys. Rev. D 47 (1993) 4273, which first contained the metric (2.2)
external to the cosmic string. The present paper extends this solution to a
regular solution inside the string as wel
Berry phase for oscillating neutrinos
We show the presence of a topological (Berry) phase in the time evolution of
a mixed state. For the case of mixed neutrinos, the Berry phase is a function
of the mixing angle only.Comment: 7 pages, Revte
Action principle formulation for motion of extended bodies in General Relativity
We present an action principle formulation for the study of motion of an
extended body in General Relativity in the limit of weak gravitational field.
This gives the classical equations of motion for multipole moments of arbitrary
order coupling to the gravitational field. In particular, a new force due to
the octupole moment is obtained. The action also yields the gravitationally
induced phase shifts in quantum interference experiments due to the coupling of
all multipole moments.Comment: Revised version derives Octupole moment force. Some clarifications
and a reference added. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Gravity and Geometric Phases
The behavior of a quantum test particle satisfying the Klein-Gordon equation
in a certain class of 4 dimensional stationary space-times is examined. In a
space-time of a spinning cosmic string, the wave function of a particle in a
box is shown to acquire a geometric phase when the box is transported around a
closed path surrounding the string. When interpreted as an Aharonov-Anandan
geometric phase, the effect is shown to be related to the Aharonov-Bohm effect.Comment: 11 pages, latex fil
Background Independent Quantum Mechanics, Metric of Quantum States, and Gravity: A Comprehensive Perspective
This paper presents a comprehensive perspective of the metric of quantum
states with a focus on the background independent metric structures. We also
explore the possibilities of geometrical formulations of quantum mechanics
beyond the quantum state space and Kahler manifold. The metric of quantum
states in the classical configuration space with the pseudo-Riemannian
signature and its possible applications are explored. On contrary to the common
perception that a metric for quantum state can yield a natural metric in the
configuration space with the limit when Planck constant vanishes, we obtain the
metric of quantum states in the configuration space without imposing this
limiting condition. Here, Planck constant is absorbed in the quantity like Bohr
radii. While exploring the metric structure associated with Hydrogen like atom,
we witness another interesting finding that the invariant lengths appear in the
multiple of Bohr radii.Comment: 25 Pages;journal reference added:Published in- Int. J. Theor. Phys.
46 (2007) 3216-3229. References revise
On the measurement problem for a two-level quantum system
A geometric approach to quantum mechanics with unitary evolution and
non-unitary collapse processes is developed. In this approach the Schrodinger
evolution of a quantum system is a geodesic motion on the space of states of
the system furnished with an appropriate Riemannian metric. The measuring
device is modeled by a perturbation of the metric. The process of measurement
is identified with a geodesic motion of state of the system in the perturbed
metric. Under the assumption of random fluctuations of the perturbed metric,
the Born rule for probabilities of collapse is derived. The approach is applied
to a two-level quantum system to obtain a simple geometric interpretation of
quantum commutators, the uncertainty principle and Planck's constant. In light
of this, a lucid analysis of the double-slit experiment with collapse and an
experiment on a pair of entangled particles is presented.Comment: for related papers, see http://www.uwc.edu/dept/math/faculty/kryukov
Topology, Locality, and Aharonov-Bohm Effect with Neutrons
Recent neutron interferometry experiments have been interpreted as
demonstrating a new topological phenomenon similar in principle to the usual
Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect, but with the neutron's magnetic moment replacing the
electron's charge. We show that the new phenomenon, called Scalar AB (SAB)
effect, follows from an ordinary local interaction, contrary to the usual AB
effect, and we argue that the SAB effect is not a topological effect by any
useful definition. We find that SAB actually measures an apparently novel spin
autocorrelation whose operator equations of motion contain the local torque in
the magnetic field. We note that the same remarks apply to the Aharonov-Casher
effect.Comment: 9 page
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