We construct coherent states of a nonrelativistic electron in the magnetic-solenoid field, which is a superposition of the Aharonov-Bohm field and a collinear uniform magnetic field. In the problem under consideration there are two kind of coherent states, the first kind corresponds to classical trajectories which embrace the solenoid and the second one to trajectories which do not. Mean coordinates in the constructed coherent states are moving along classical trajectories, the coherent states maintain their form under the time evolution, and represent a complete set of functions, which can be useful in semi classical calculations. In the absence of the Aharonov-Bohm filed these states are reduced to the well-known in the case of uniform magnetic field Malkin-Man'ko coherent states.
This article completes our study of coherent states in the so-called magnetic-solenoid field (a colinear combination of a constant uniform magnetic field and Aharonov-Bohm solenoid field) presented in JPA 2010 and 2011. Here we succeeded to prove nontrivial completeness relations for non-relativistic and relativistic coherent states in such a field. In addition, we solve here the relevant Stieltjes moment problem and present a comparative analysis of our coherent states and the well-known in the case of pure uniform magnetic field Malkin-Man'ko coherent states.
A new approach to constructing coherent states (CS) and semiclassical states (SS) in magnetic-solenoid field is proposed. The main idea is based on the fact that the AB solenoid breaks the translational symmetry in the xy-plane, this has a topological effect such that there appear two types of trajectories which embrace and do not embrace the solenoid. Due to this fact, one has to construct two different kinds of CS/SS, which correspond to such trajectories in the semiclassical limit. Following this idea, we construct CS in two steps, first the instantaneous CS (ICS) and the time dependent CS/…
We present a detailed analysis of the scattering of charged particles by the magnetic field of a long solenoid of constant magnetic flux and finite radius. We study the relativistic and non-relativistic quantum and classical scenarios. The classical limit of the perturbative quantum expressions, understood as the Planck's limit (making $\hbar$ going to zero) is analyzed and compared with the classical result. The classical cross section shows a general non-symmetric behavior with respect to the scattering angle in contradistinction to the quantum calculations performed so far. The various regi…
We present a relativistic quantum calculation at first order in perturbation theory of the differential cross section for a Dirac particle scattered by the magnetic field of a solenoid. The resulting cross section is symmetric in the scattering angle as those obtained by Aharonov and Bohm (AB) in the string limit and by Landau and Lifshitz (LL) for the non relativistic case. We show that taking pr_0 sin(theta/2) << 1 in our expression of the differential cross section it reduces to that one reported by AB, and if additionally we assume theta << 1 our result becomes the one obtained by LL. Howe…
The Aharonov-Bohm effect is considered by most authors as a quantum effect, but a generally accepted explanation does not seem to be available. The phenomenon is studied here under the assumption that hypothetical electric dipole distributions configured by moving charges in the solenoid act on the electrons as test particles. The relative motions of the interacting charged particles introduce relativistic time dilations. The massless dipoles are postulated as part of an impact model that has recently been proposed to account for the far-reaching electrostatic forces between charged particles …
We show under which conditions a particle scatters coherently on a multi-particles system, working in the non relativistic framework. In a nutshell, in order to have coherent scattering, the incident particle has to not resolve the internal structure of the composite system. We show that the above condition is satisfied when the de Broglie length of the incident particle is much larger than the size of the system.
We study a relativistic quantum particle in cosmic string spacetime in the presence of a uniform magnetic field and a Coulomb-type scalar potential. It is shown that the radial part of this problem possesses the $su(1,1)$ symmetry. We obtain the energy spectrum and eigenfunctions of this problem by using two algebraic methods: the Schrödinger factorization and the tilting transformation. Finally, we give the explicit form of the relativistic coherent states for this problem.
In 1959 Aharonov and Bohm suggested that an electron passing around a long solenoid would pick up a phase shift dependent on the magnetic field of the solenoid, even though the electrons themselves pass through a region of space which has a zero magnetic field. It has long been held that this result is purely quantum and is derived in many well known quantum mechanics text books using the Schrodinger equation and vector potential. Here the same phase shift is derived from a purely classical force, but relativistic transformations are taken into account. The force is in the direction of motion …
The Klein-Gordon equation with scalar potential is considered. In the Feshbach-Villars representation the annihilation operator for a linear potential is defined and its eigenstates are obtained. Although the energy levels in this case are not equally-spaced, depending on the eigenvalues of the annihilation operator, the states are nearly coherent and squeezed. The relativistic Poschl-Teller potential is introduced. It is shown that its energy levels are equally-spaced. The coherence of time evolution of the eigenstates of the annihilation operator for this potential is evaluated.
A well known example in quantum electrodynamics (QED) shows that Coulomb scattering of unpolarized electrons, calculated to lowest order in perturbation theory, yields a results that exactly coincides (in the non-relativistic limit) with the Rutherford formula. We examine an analogous example, the classical and perturbative quantum scattering of an electron by a magnetic field confined in an infinite solenoid of finite radius. The results obtained for the classical and the quantum differential cross sections display marked differences. While this may not be a complete surprise, one should expe…
We present a self-consistent mean-field model based on a two-component Pauli-like equation that incorporates quantum and relativistic effects (up to second-order in 1/c) for both external and internal electromagnetic fields. By taking the semi-relativistic limit of the Dirac-Maxwell equations in the presence of an external electromagnetic field we obtain an analytical expression of a coherent light-induced mean-field Hamiltonian. The latter exhibits several mechanisms that involve the internal mean fields created by all the electrons and the external electromagnetic field (laser). The role pla…
The three approaches to relativistic generalization of coherent states are discussed in the simplest case of a spinless particle: the standard, canonical coherent states, the Lorentzian states and the coherent states introduced by Kaiser and independently by Twareque Ali, Antoine and Gazeau. All treatments utilize the Newton-Wigner localization and dynamics described by the Salpeter equation. The behavior of expectation values of relativistic observables in the coherent states is analyzed in detail and the Heisenberg uncertainty relations are investigated.
We construct coherent states of the massless and massive representations of the Poincaré group. They are parameterised by points on the classical state space of spinning particles. Their properties are explored, with special emphasis on the geometrical structures on the state space.
I propose to resolve the controversy over the speed of collapse of quantum-mechanical wavefunctions by means of an experimental test with a modified symmetric Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, with non-intersecting, parallel, widely separated final beams. According to the conventional collapse scenario, the coherent twin-peak atomic wavefunction in the beams of the interferometer suffers an instantaneous collapse, at infinite speed, when the atom is captured by one of the two detectors at the ends of the beams, but it remains coherent until that instant. In contrast, according to the Hellwig-K…
A special relativistic perturbation to non-relativistic quantum mechanics is shown to lead to the special relativistic prediction for the rate of precession for quantum states in the Coulomb potential. This behavior is shown using SO(4) coherent states as examples. These states are localized on Kepler ellipses and precess in the presence of a relativistic perturbation.
The minimal coupling rule is "derived" starting from Landau's relativistically invariant classical action for a charge in the presence of classical electromagnetic fields. Experiments are then proposed to see the resulting electromagnetic angular momentum of a classical, "lumpy" charged ring enclosing a solenoid. These classical, macroscopic experiments are similar in spirit to those proposed by Aharonov and Bohm at the quantum level.
The interaction of a moving charged particle with its coherent electromagnetic field is analysed in the framework of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. It is shown that, when this interaction is taken into account, a spatially localized state may have a mean energy lower than the one corresponding to a delocalized state.
The structure of additional electromagnetic fields to the Aharonov-Bohm field, for which the Schrödinger, Klein-Gordon, and Dirac equations can be solved exactly are described and the corresponding exact solutions are found. It is demonstrated that aside from the known cases (a constant and uniform magnetic field that is parallel to the Aharonov-Bohm solenoid, a static spherically symmetrical electric field, and the field of a magnetic monopole), there are broad classes of additional fields. Among these new additional fields we have physically interesting electric fields acting during a finite…
We consider relativistic coherent states for a spin-0 charged particle that satisfy the next additional requirements: (i) the expected values of the standard coordinate and momentum operators are uniquely related to the real and imaginary parts of the coherent state parameter; (ii) these states contain only one charge component. Three cases are considered: free particle, relativistic rotator, and particle in a constant homogeneous magnetic field. For the rotational motion of the two latter cases, such a description leads to the appearance of the so-called nonlinear coherent states.
In nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, Hudsons theorem states that a Gaussian wavefunction is the only pure state corresponding to a positive Wigner function (WF). We explicitly construct non Gaussian Dirac spinors with positive relativistic WF. These pure states are coherent superpositions of particles and antiparticles, while the existence of positive WF exclusive composed of particles is conjectured. These observations challenge a common belief that states with positive WF are classical or have classical analogues, and may open new venues in relativistic quantum information.
We use the formulation of the quantum mechanics of first quantized Klein-Gordon fields given in the first of this series of papers to study relativistic coherent states. In particular, we offer an explicit construction of coherent states for both charged and neutral (real) free Klein-Gordon fields as well as for charged fields interacting with a constant magnetic field. Our construction is free from the problems associated with charge-superselection rule that complicated the previous studies. We compute various physical quantities associated with our coherent states and present a detailed inve…
Relativistic geometrical action for a quantum particle in the superspace is analyzed from theoretical group point of view. To this end an alternative technique of quantization outlined by the authors in a previous work and that is based in the correct interpretation of the square root Hamiltonian, is used. The obtained spectrum of physical states and the Fock construction consist of Squeezed States which correspond to the representations with the lowest weights s=1/4 and s=3/4 with four possible (non-trivial) fractional representations for the group decomposition of the spin structure. From th…
It is commonly claimed in the recent literature that certain solutions to wave equations of positive energy of Dirac-type with internal variables are characterized by a non-thermal spectrum. As part of that statement, it was said that the transformations and symmetries involved in equations of such type correspond to a particular representation of the Lorentz group. In this paper we give the general solution to this problem emphasizing the interplay between the group structure, the corresponding algebra and the physical spectrum. This analysis is completed with a strong discussion and proving …
We present a relativistic quantum calculation at first order in perturbation theory of the differential cross section for a Dirac particle scattered by a solenoidal magnetic field. The resulting cross section is symmetric in the scattering angle as those obtained by Aharonov and Bohm (AB) in the string limit and by Landau and Lifshitz (LL) for the non relativistic case. We show that taking pr_0\|sin(θ/2)|/\hbar<<1 in our expression of the differential cross section it reduces to the one reported by AB, and if additionally we assume θ<< 1 our result becomes the one obtained by LL. However, thes…
In quantum field theory, the photon-fermion vertex can be described in terms of four form factors which encode the static electromagnetic properties of the particle, namely its charge, magnetic dipole moment, electric dipole moment, and anapole moment. For Majorana fermions, only the anapole moment can be nonzero, a consequence of the fact that these particles are their own antiparticles. Using the framework of quantum field theory, we perform a scattering calculation which probes the anapole moment with a spinless charged particle. In the limit of low-momentum transfer, we confirm that the an…
The thesis is devoted to the phase space representation of relativistic quantum mechanics. For a class of observables with matrix-valued Weyl symbols proportional to the identity matrix, the Weyl-Wigner-Moyal formalism is proposed. The evolution equations are found to coincide with their counterparts in relativistic quantum mechanics with non-local Hamiltonian. The difference between the theories is connected with peculiarities of the constraints on the initial conditions. Effective increase in coherence between eigenstates of the Hamiltonian is found. Relativistic coherent states that take in…
The last two decades experimentally affirmed the quantum nature of free electron wavepackets by the rapid development of transmission electron microscopes into ultrafast, quantum-coherent systems. In particular, ultrafast electron pulses can be generated and timed to interact with optical near-fields, yielding coherent exchange of the quantized photon energy between the relativistic electron wavepacket and the light field. So far, all experiments have been restricted to the physically-confining bounds of transmission electron microscopes, with their small, millimeter-sized sample chambers. In …
