Quantum phase effects for electrically charged particles and redefinition of the momentum operator

Abstract

We analyze the physical meaning of quantum phases for moving electric/magnetic dipoles through a superposition of quantum phases for point-like charges of the dipole, and in this way we disclose two new quantum phases for moving charges, next to the well-known magnetic and electric Aharonov-Bohm phases. We find that a consistent description of the full set of quantum phase effects for charged particles requires to modify the standard definition of the momentum operator via the canonical momentum of a particle towards a more inclusive definition, where this operator is associated with the vector sum of mechanical and interactional electromagnetic (EM) momenta for a charged particle in the EM field. Some principal implications of this result are discussed. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.