Diffraction and quasiclassical limit of the Aharonov--Bohm effect

Since the Aharonov-Bohm effect is the purely quantum effect that has no analogues in classical physics, its persistence in the quasiclassical limit seems to be hardly possible. Nevertheless, we show that the scattering Aharonov-Bohm effect does persist in the quasiclassical limit owing to the diffraction, i.e. the Fraunhofer diffraction in the case when space outside the enclosed magnetic flux is Euclidean, and the Fresnel diffraction in the case when the outer space is conical. Hence, the enclosed magnetic flux can serve as a gate for the propagation of short-wavelength, almost classical, particles. In the case of conical space, this quasiclassical effect which is in principle detectable depends on the particle spin.Comment: 12 pages, minor changes, references update

Antiproton scattering off 3He^3 He and 4He^4 He nuclei at low and intermediate energies

Antiproton scattering off ^3\He and ^4\He targets is considered at beam energies below 300 MeV within the Glauber-Sitenko approach, utilizing the $\bar N N$ amplitudes of the J\"ulich model as input. A good agreement with available data on differential \bar p ^4\He cross sections and on \bar p ^3\He and \pbar ^4\He reaction cross sections is obtained. Predictions for polarized total $\bar p ^3$He cross sections are presented, calculated within the single-scattering approximation and including Coulomb-nuclear interference effects. The kinetics of the polarization buildup is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Polarization of the vacuum of a quantized scalar field by an impenetrable magnetic vortex of finite thickness

We consider the effect of the magnetic field background in the form of a tube of the finite transverse size on the vacuum of the quantized charged massive scalar field which is subject to the Dirichlet boundary condition at the tube. It is shown that, if the Compton wavelength associated with the scalar field exceeds considerably the transverse size of the tube, then the vacuum energy which is finite and periodic in the value of the magnetic flux enclosed in the tube is induced on a plane transverse to the tube. Some consequences for generic features of the vacuum polarization in the cosmic-string background are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, journal version, minor changes, some references adde

Induced vacuum condensates in the background of a singular magnetic vortex in 2+1-dimensional space-time

We show that the vacuum of the quantized massless spinor field in 2+1-dimensional space-time is polarized in the presence of a singular magnetic vortex. Depending on the choice of the boundary condition at the location of the vortex, either chiral symmetry or parity is broken; the formation of the appropriate vacuum condensates is comprehensively studied. In addition, we find that current, energy and other quantum numbers are induced in the vacuum.Comment: LaTeX2e, 27 page

Induced vacuum energy-momentum tensor in the background of a d-2 - brane in d+1 - dimensional space-time

Charged scalar field is quantized in the background of a static d-2 - brane which is a core of the magnetic flux lines in flat d+1 - dimensional space-time. We find that vector potential of the magnetic core induces the energy-momentum tensor in the vacuum. The tensor components are periodic functions of the brane flux and holomorphic functions of space dimension. The dependence on the distance from the brane and on the coupling to the space-time curvature scalar is comprehensively analysed.Comment: 32 pages, 3 figures, journal version, some references adde

Monte Carlo Eikonal Scattering

Monte Carlo evaluation is used to calculate heavy-ion elastic scattering including the center-of-mass correction and the Coulomb interaction.Angular distributions are presented for a number of nuclear pairs over a wide energy range using nucleon-nucleon scattering parameters taken from phase-shift analyses and densities from independent sources. A technique for the efficient expansion of the Glauber amplitude in partial waves is developed