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arXiv · 2411.10526

Revisiting Scattering Enhancement from the Aharonov-Bohm Effect

T. Daniel Brennan·Jaipratap Singh Grewal·Eric Y. Yang
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Abstract

We revisit the problem of a charged particle scattering off of an Aharonov-Bohm cosmic string. A classic computation gave an infinite total scattering cross section, leading to a Callan-Rubakov-like enhancement which can have important implications on baryon number asymmetry in the early universe. However, unlike the Callan-Rubakov effect, the Aharonov-Bohm interaction is topological and thus it is surprising that it leads to such a dramatic dynamical effect for single particle scattering. We reexamine this old problem through the modern lens of generalized global symmetries by embedding Aharanov-Bohm strings in a discrete gauge theory. We show that the scattering cross section is suppressed by the core size and there is thus no Callan-Rubakov-like enhancement.

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T. Daniel Brennan, Jaipratap Singh Grewal, Eric Y. Yang. 2024-11-15. Revisiting Scattering Enhancement from the Aharonov-Bohm Effect. https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10526

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