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Unbounded quantum backflow in two dimensions

Quantum Physics 2025-03-04 v1

Abstract

Quantum backflow refers to the counterintuitive fact that the probability can flow in the direction opposite to the momentum of a quantum particle. This phenomenon has been seen to be small and fragile for one-dimensional systems, in which the maximal amount of backflow has been found to be bounded. Quantum backflow exhibits dramatically different features in two-dimensional systems that, contrary to the one-dimensional case, allow for degenerate energy eigenstates. Here we investigate the case of a charged particle that is confined to move on a finite disk punctured at the center and that is pierced through the center, and normally to the disk, by a magnetic flux line. We demonstrate that quantum backflow can be unbounded (in a certain sense), which makes this system a promising physical platform regarding the yet-to-be-performed experimental observation of this fundamental quantum phenomenon.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.06539,
  title  = {Unbounded quantum backflow in two dimensions},
  author = {Maximilien Barbier and Arseni Goussev and Shashi C. L. Srivastava},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.06539},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

11 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-28T05:42:57.756Z