3 research outputs found
A Gravitational Aharonov-Bohm Effect, and its Connection to Parametric Oscillators and Gravitational Radiation
A thought experiment is proposed to demonstrate the existence of a
gravitational, vector Aharonov-Bohm effect. A connection is made between the
gravitational, vector Aharonov-Bohm effect and the principle of local gauge
invariance for nonrelativistic quantum matter interacting with weak
gravitational fields. The compensating vector fields that are necessitated by
this local gauge principle are shown to be incorporated by the DeWitt minimal
coupling rule. The nonrelativistic Hamiltonian for weak, time-independent
fields interacting with quantum matter is then extended to time-dependent
fields, and applied to problem of the interaction of radiation with
macroscopically coherent quantum systems, including the problem of
gravitational radiation interacting with superconductors. But first we examine
the interaction of EM radiation with superconductors in a parametric oscillator
consisting of a superconducting wire placed at the center of a high Q
superconducting cavity driven by pump microwaves. We find that the threshold
for parametric oscillation for EM microwave generation is much lower for the
separated configuration than the unseparated one, which then leads to an
observable dynamical Casimir effect. We speculate that a separated parametric
oscillator for generating coherent GR microwaves could also be built.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, YA80 conference (Chapman University, 2012