Internal frame dragging and a global analog of the Aharonov-Bohm effect

Abstract

It is shown that the breakdown of a global symmetry group to a discrete subgroup can lead to analogs of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. At sufficiently low momentum transfer, the cross section for scattering of a particle with nontrivial Z2 charge off a global vortex is almost equal to (but definitely different from) maximal Aharonov-Bohm scattering; the effect goes away at large momentum transfer. The scattering of a spin-1/2 particle off a magnetic vortex provides an amusing experimentally realizable example.

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