Nonlocality of the Aharonov-Bohm Effect

Authors

Yakir Aharonov, Chapman UniversityFollow
Eliahu Cohen, University of Bristol
Daniel Rohrlich, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2016

Abstract

Although the Aharonov-Bohm and related effects are familiar in solid-state and high-energy physics, the nonlocality of these effects has been questioned. Here we show that the Aharonov-Bohm effect has two very different aspects. One aspect is instantaneous and nonlocal; the other aspect, which depends on entanglement, unfolds continuously over time. While local, gauge-invariant variables may occasionally suffice for explaining the continuous aspect, we argue that they cannot explain the instantaneous aspect. Thus the Aharonov-Bohm effect is, in general, nonlocal.

Comments

This article was originally published in Physical Review A, volume 93, issue 4, in 2016. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.042110

Recommended Citation

Y. Aharonov, E. Cohen, and D. Rohrlich, “Nonlocality of the Aharonov-Bohm effect,” Phys. Rev. A, vol. 93, no. 4, p. 42110, Apr. 2016. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.042110

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

American Physical Society