A Remark on the Aharonov-Bohm Potential and a Discussion on the Electric Charge Quantization
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to stress on a mathematical requirement of the Stokes' theorem that, naturally, yields a reassessment of the electric charge quantization condition, which is, here, explicitly carried out in the context of the Aharonov-Bohm set-up. We argue that, by virtue of an ambiguity in the definition of the circulation of the vector potential, a modified quantization condition comes out for the electric charge that opens the way for understanding fundamental fractional charges. One does not, any longer, need to rely on the existence of a magnetic monopole to justify electric charge quantization.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0409074,
title = {A Remark on the Aharonov-Bohm Potential and a Discussion on the Electric Charge Quantization},
author = {F. A. Barone and J. A. Helayel-Neto},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0409074},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
7 pages, 1 eps figure, title changed, references added, minor changes in the text, work presented at the Fourth International Winter Conference on Mathematical Methods in Physics, 09 - 13 August 2004, Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF/MCT), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil