Generalized Aharonov-Bohm Experiments with Neutrons

Abstract

The Aharonov-Bohm effects¹ are generally regarded as direct manifestations of the property, that potentials are affecting quantum systems in a way significantly different from the classical case. This stems from the fact, that potentials enter the classical Newtonian equations of motion only through their derivatives, while in quantum mechanics the potentials themselves enter the Schrodinger equation. The Aharonov-Bohm effects often are said to be also manifestations of the nonlocal charactei of quantum mechanics, because there the observed phase shift depends on fields in regions which are inaccessible or practically inaccessible to the interfering electron. It is this latter point which has raised a considerable body of discussion in the scientific, literature² indicating, that the epistemological significance of the Aharonov-Bohm effects is not yet understood.