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The AharonovBohm effect in neutral liquids

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2010 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 354003
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IOP PUBLISHING

JOURNAL OF PHYSICS A: MATHEMATICAL AND THEORETICAL

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003 (13pp)

doi:10.1088/1751-8113/43/35/354003

The AharonovBohm effect in neutral liquids

E B Sonin
Racah Institute of Physics Hebrew University of Jerusalem Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904 Israel
E-mail: sonin@cc.huji.ac.il

Received 13 January 2010, in final form 8 March 2010

Published 12 August 2010
Online at stacks.iop.org/JPhysA/43/354003
Abstract
The AharonovBohm effect was discovered as a quantum-mechanical effect
for charged particles, but it has its counterpart in classical wave mechanics.
The AharonovBohm interference arises at the scattering of a sound wave by
a vortex in classical and quantum hydrodynamics. This interference leads
to a transverse force between quasiparticles and vortices in superfluids and
superconductors. The AharonovBohm effect was also generalized to neutral
particles with magnetic or electric dipole momenta. The AharonovBohm
effect for charge particles and its modification for magnetic momenta (the
AharonovCasher effect) have already been experimentally observed, and
the efforts to detect the AharonovBohm effect for electrically polarized
neutral particles are on the way. A possible system for this detection is a
Bose-condensate of excitons in a double quantum well. Observation of the
AharonovBohm effect in this system would provide direct evidence of Bose
Einstein condensation.
PACS numbers: 03.65.Vf, 67.25.dk, 71.35.Lk, 73.21.Fg
(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction
The 50 year history of the AharonovBohm (AB) effect [1] continues to demonstrate a
fundamental importance of the effect, and more and more implications and analogs of the
effect are being found in various area of physics. This effect clearly manifests the key role of
the topological phase in classical and quantum physics [2]. Though the AB effect has appeared
in the quantum-mechanical theory, generally speaking it is a wave-mechanical effect, which
has analogs in classical wave mechanics.
The AB interference arises at the scattering of a sound wave by a vortex in classical
and quantum (superfluid) hydrodynamics. In a sense, the AB effect entered superfluid
hydrodynamics even earlier than the effect itself was discovered though it was not realized at
that time. The interference leads to a transverse force on a vortex, which was first found by
1751-8113/10/354003+13$30.00 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

Lifshitz and Pitaevskii [3] for rotons in 1957, i.e., two years before the paper by Aharonov
and Bohm. But only much later it was demonstrated [4] that this roton transverse force, as
well as the similar force produced by phonons, results from the AB interference.
From the very beginning the transverse force from quasiparticles scattered by a vortex
was a subject of controversy and of vivid debates. Pitaevskii [5] and later Fetter [6], who
studied scattering of phonons by a vortex in the Born approximation, did not reveal any
transverse force. Later Iordanskii [7] revisited the problem of phonon scattering and found
that there is a transverse force though it cannot be obtained from the differential cross-section,
which was analyzed by Pitaevskii and Fetter. Iordanskii suggested that his force and the
LifshitzPitaevskii force were of different origins and for rotons they should be summed.
Since the force calculated by Lifshitz and Pitaevskii and the Iordanskii force were equal in
amplitude but opposite in sign, he concluded that the transverse force from rotons vanished.
But the analysis done in [4] demonstrated that the Iordanskii force for rotons is identical to
the LifshitzPitaevskii force and they must not be added. In addition, the LifshitzPitaevskii
force from rotons was calculated in the original paper [3] with a wrong sign. After its
correction the transverse force on the vortex was of the same sign and value both for rotons
(the LifshitzPitaevskii force) and for phonons (the Iordanskii force) [8].
Later on the debates on the transverse force (especially on its phonon version, i.e.
Iordanskii force) continued with a number of publications rejecting its existence. In particular,
Ao and Thouless [9] suggested that the Berry phase provides an universal exact value for the
total transverse force on the vortex which does not depend on the presence of quasiparticles or
impurities. This ruled out the transverse force on the vortex from quasiparticles and impurities.
The arguments about this issue continued for a number of years [1012], but eventually some
consensus was reached that the original calculation of the Berry phase missed the contribution
from the normal-fluid circulation. After its addition the calculations of the transverse force
from the scattering theory and from the Berry phase gave the same result [1315].
The AB interference was also studied in classical hydrodynamics for water surface waves
(the acoustic AB effect [16, 17]). Scattering of the light by a vortex also results in the AB
interference (the optical AB effect [18]). The original AB effect for electrons also leads to a
transverse force on a fluxon [10, 19]. The force was derived by various methods, in particular,
by analyzing the scattering of electron wavepackets in the paraxial approximation [2023]. In
clean superconductors the BCS quasiparticles also produce an additional transverse force on
the vortex [2426] analogous to the LifshitzPitaevskiiIordanskii force in superfluids. The
force affects the Hall effect in the mixed state of a superconductor.
The AB effect was discovered for charged particles [1], but later was generalized on neutral
particles with magnetic (the AharonovCasher effect [27]) and electric [28, 29] dipoles. The
AB effect for charge particles and its modification for magnetic moments have already been
experimentally observed (see bibliography in [28]). On the other hand, the AB effect for
electrically polarized neutral particles is still waiting its clear experimental detection, and
some serious steps on the way to this goal have been reported for superfluid 4 He [30] and for
excitons [31].
One may expect that any Bose-condensed medium, where the coherent phase exists, is a
good candidate for detection of this effect. This refers also to Bose condensates of excitons,
which have already been discussed for more than four decades. The interest to this idea was
revived after experimental observation of excitons in coupled doubled quantum wells, which
stimulated intensive theoretical and experimental investigations [3238]. Recently it was
shown that the AB effect can result in rotation of the electrically polarized Bose condensate
[39]. The detection of the AB effect for the Bose condensate of excitons is especially important
since the question whether Bose condensation was really observed there remains unsettled [40]
2

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

despite some experimental evidences of condensation being reported. For excitons in doubled
quantum wells the electric dipole moment of an exciton is provided by spatial separation of
electrons and holes in two different wells. Since the AB effect and vortices, which can appear
due to it [3638], are a clear manifestation of phase coherent states, this experiment would
provide a smoking gun for Bosecondensation.
The present paper will address these two manifestations of the AB phenomenon.
2. Transverse force from quasiparticles on a vortex
2.1. Scattering of phonons by the vortex
In superfluid hydrodynamics the equations of motion for the superfluid component are
equivalent to the hydrodynamic equations for an ideal inviscid liquid:

+ ( v ) = 0,
t
v
+ (v )v = .
t

(1)
(2)

Here we restrict ourselves to zero temperature; and v are the liquid density and the velocity,
respectively, and is the chemical potential.
We consider a sound wave propagating in the plane xy normal to a vortex line (the axis
z). Then the liquid density and velocity are functions of the time t and the position vector r in
the plane xy:
(r , t) = 0 + (1) (r , t),

v (r , t) = vv + v(1) (r , t),

(3)

where 0 is the average density and

z r
(4)
2 r 2
is the velocity induced by the vortex filament, = h/m is the circulation quantum, (1) (r , t)

are periodical variations of the density and the velocity due to the sound
and v(1) (r , t) = 2
wave ((1)  = 0, v(1)  = 0). They should be determined from the linearized hydrodynamic
equations, which after some algebra [15] are reduced to the linear sound equation for the
phase:
vv (r ) =

2
(r )
,
(5)
cs2 2 = 2vv (r )
2
t
t

where cs = / is the sound velocity.

In the long-wavelength limit k 0 one may use the perturbation theory with the parameter
k/cs . The latter is on the order of the ratio of the vortex core radius rc /cs to the
wavelength 2/k. The standard scattering theory in the Born approximation yields (see [10]
and references therein for details) the asymptotic solution at large r, which is a superposition
of the incident plane wave exp(ik r ) and the scattered wave exp(ikr):


ia()
= 0 exp(it) exp(ik r ) + exp(ikr) .
(6)
r
Here
a() =

k 1 i
1
e 4 [ k ] k 2
2 cs
q




q2
1 k i sin cos
1 2 =
e4
2k
2 2 cs
1 cos

(7)
3

E B Sonin

sc
att
wa ered
ve

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

incident wave

Figure 1. Scattering of a sound wave by a vortex.

is the scattering amplitude, which is a function of the angle between the initial wavevector
k and the wavevector k = k r /r after scattering (see figure 1), q = k k is the momentum
transferred by the scattered phonon to the vortex, and q 2 = 2k 2 (1 cos ).
Scattering produces a force on the vortex,
F ph = cs j ph cs [z j ph ],

(8)

where jph = (1) v(1)  is the mass flow related with the propagating sound wave. So the
force is determined by two effective cross-sections [4, 10]: the transport cross-section for the
dissipative force,

= ()(1 cos ) d,
(9)
and the transverse cross-section for the transverse force,

= () sin d.

(10)

The differential cross-section () = |a()|2 with a() from (7) is quadratic in the circulation
and even in . Therefore, in the Born approximation the transverse cross-section vanishes.
This explains why Pitaevskii [5] and Fetter [6] did not reveal the transverse force.
However, due to a very slow decrease of the velocity vv 1/r far from the vortex, the
scattering amplitude is divergent at small scattering angles 0:

k i 1
(11)
e4 .
a()
2 cs

This divergence is integrable in the integral for the transport cross-section (9), and its
calculation is reliable. In contrast, the integrand in (10) for the transverse cross-section
has a pole at = 0. The principal value of the integral vanishes, but there is no justification
for the choice of the principal value, and the contribution of the small angles requires an
additional analysis.

At small scattering angles  1/ kr the asymptotic expansion (6) is invalid, and

one cannot use the differential cross-section or the scattering amplitude for description of
the small-angle scattering [4, 7, 20]. Meanwhile, the small-angle behavior is crucial for the
transverse force as demonstrated below. A more accurate calculation, which still uses the
4

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

perturbation theory1 but not the asymptotic expansion leading to the expression (6) (see [4]
and appendix B in [10]), yields that at  1



kr
ik
= 0 exp(it + ik r ) 1 +

.
(12)
2cs
2i
Using an asymptotic expression for the error integral
 z
2
z
1
2

(z) =
et dt
exp(z2 )
|z|
0
z

at |z| , one obtains for angles 1   1/ kr:








k 1
ik
i
exp ikr + i
= 0 exp(it) exp(ik r ) 1 +

.
2cs ||
cs 2 r
4

(13)

(14)

The second term in square brackets coincides with scattering wave at small angles  1 with
the amplitude given by (11). But now one can see that the standard scattering theory misses
to reveal an important non-analytical correction to the incident plane wave, which changes a
sign when the scattering angle crosses zero. Its physical meaning is discussed in the next
section.
2.2. The Iordanskii force and the AharonovBohm effect
The analogy between the phonon scattering by a vortex and the AB effect for electrons scattered
by a magnetic-flux tube becomes evident if one rewrites the sound equation (5) in presence of
the vortex as
2

k
(15)
k 2 i + vv = 0.
cs
On the other hand, the stationary Schrodinger equation for an electron in presence of the
magnetic flux
confined to a thin tube (the AB effect [1]) is
2

e
1
E(r ) =
ih A (r ).
(16)
2m
c
Here is the electron wavefunction with energy E and the electromagnetic vector potential is
connected with the magnetic flux
by the relation similar to that for the velocity vv around
the vortex line [see (4)]:
[z r ]
.
(17)
A=

2 r 2
Let us consider the semiclassical solution of the sound equation:




iS
ik
= 0 exp(it + ik r ) 1 +
,
(18)
= 0 exp it + ik r +
h

2 cs
r
where S = (hk/cs ) vv dl = h
k/2 cs is the variation of the action due to interaction
with the circular velocity from the vortex along semiclassical trajectories. The angle is an
azimuth angle for the position vector r measured from the direction opposite to the wavevector
k (see figure 1). This choice provides that the semiclassical correction vanishes for the incident
wave far from the vortex. One can check directly that (18) satisfies the sound equation (5) in
the first order with respect to the parameter k/cs . For the AB effect the phase S/h arises
r
from the electromagnetic vector potential: S = (e/c) A dl.
1

One can find a more general expression, which does not use the perturbation theory, in [41].
5

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

Figure 2. AharonovBohm interference.

According to (18) the phase is multivalued, and one must choose a cut for an angle
at the direction k, where = . The jump of the phase on the cut line behind the vortex is
a manifestation of the AB effect [4]: the sound wave after its interaction with the vortex has
different phases on the left and on the right of the vortex line. This results in an interference
[4, 10]. In the interference region the semiclassical solution
is invalid and must be replaced
by (12). The width of the interference region is dint r where = 2/k is the sound
wavelength (figure
2). The interference region corresponds to very small scattering angles

dint /r = 1/ kr.
The next step is to consider the momentum balance in the area around the vortex filament.
Surrounding the filament with a cylindric surface of the radius much larger
 than the wavelength,
the total momentum flux is determined by the integral over this surface, dSj j = 0, where
subscript is for a component normal to the wavevector k of the incident wave. Here
ij = P ij + vi (r )vj (r ) is the hydrodynamic momentumflux tensor. Expanding it with
respect to perturbations (1) and v(1) (see [15] for details), one obtains (8) with the transverse
cross-section

S S+
= .
=
(19)
h
k
cs
It is crucial that just the interference region, which corresponds to an infinitesimally small angle
interval, yields a finite contribution to the transverse force, which one could not obtain from the
standard scattering theory using the differential cross-section. In fact the details of the solution
in the interference region are not essential: only a jump of the phase + = (S S+ )/h
across the interference region is of importance.
2.3. The transverse force from the Berry phase
Now let us consider a connection between the transverse force and the Berry phase. The Berry
phase can be found from the hydrodynamic Lagrangian

2
V

()2 2 .
(20)
2 t
8
2
The first term with the first time derivative of the phase (WessZumino term) is responsible
for the Berry phase  = SB /h, which is the variation of the phase of the quantum-mechanical
wavefunction for an adiabatic motion of the vortex around a closed loop [2]. Here



= dr dt
(vL L ).
SB = dr dt
(21)
2 t
2
L=

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

is the classical action variation around the loop and L is the gradient of the phase [r rL (t)]
with respect to the vortex position vector rL (t). However,
 L = , where is the
gradient with respect to r . Then the loop integral dl = vL dt yields the circulation of total
current j = (/2 ) for points inside the loop, but vanishes for points outside. As a
result, the Berry-phase action is given by


SB = V
(22)
(dl j ).
2
where V is the volume inside the loop (a product of the loop area and the liquid height along
a vortex). Here we considered the zero temperature when the superfluid density s is equal to
the total density . But more general analysis [42] showed that the same expression is valid
for finite temperatures when j = s vs + n vn .
Since the Berry phase is proportional to the current circulation, which determines
the transverse force, there is a direct connection between the Berry phase and the amplitude
of the transverse force on a vortex, as was shown by Ao and Thouless [9]. Thus, in order
to find the transverse force, one should calculate the current circulation. If the circulation of
the normalvelocity at large distances vanished (as assumed in [9, 42]), the current circulation
would be (dl j ) = s , and the Berry phase (as well as the transport force) would be
proportional to s . This would mean that there is no contribution to the force
 from normal
=
(dl vn ) does
quasiparticles. However, at very large distances
the
normal
circulation

n

not vanish (see [1315] for details) and (dl j ) = s + n n . Using a proper value of
the asymptotic normal circulation n the Berry phase yields the same transverse force as
determined from the momentum balance.
2.4. The transverse force in the semiclassical theory
Up to now the transverse force was derived for phonons. But one can suggest a more general
semiclassical theory, which demonstrates the existence of the transverse force also for rotons.
Let us consider a quasiparticle with an arbitrary spectrum (p). If the quasiparticle moves
in the velocity field induced by the vortex, its energy is E(p) = (p) + p vv which may be
treated as a Hamiltonian for the classic equations of motion:
E
dr
p
=
= vG + vv ,
dt
p
p

E
dp
(p vv )
=
=
,
dt
r
r

(23)

where vG (p) = d/dp is the quasiparticle group velocity. As before, we assume that the
quasiparticle moves in the plane xy normal to the vortex. From these equations one can find
the classical trajectory of the quasiparticle moving past the vortex line. Usually it is close
to a straight line, and a distance of the straight trajectory from the vortex line is the impact
parameter b. If we are looking for the transverse force, we need only the variation p of the
momentum component normal to the initial momentum p which results from quasiparticle
motion past the vortex. The momentum of the quasiparticle is connected to the classical
action: p = S/ r . Then p (b) = S(b)/b where the total variation of the classical
action S(b) along the trajectory is a function of the impact parameter b. The solution of (23)
in the first order with respect to vv yields that

b
p
dl
,
(24)
S(b) =
2
2 vG (l) b + l 2

where l is the coordinate along the trajectory. The scattering angle of the quasiparticle is
p (b)/p and the transverse cross-section is
7

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

S() S(+)
db sin
db =
p



1

=
db
dl
=
.
2 vG b b2 + l 2
vG

(25)

This expression can be used for rotons with the spectrum (p) =  + (p pR )2 /2R and the
group velocity vG = (p pR )/R . For phonons the group velocity vG is equal to the sound
velocity cs and does not depend on l. Therefore, the action variation S given by (24) does not
depend on the impact parameter b at b = 0. This means that there is no phonon scattering in
the semiclassical approximation: S(b)/db = 0. A nonzero transverse cross-section
for phonons arises from a finite jump of S at b = 0. In fact, one may not use the semiclassical
theory to calculate this contribution. Nevertheless, (25) yields the correct value = /cs
for phonons.
3. Gauge-field rotation of Bose-condensed electric dipoles by magnetic field
Now let us switch to another manifestation of the AB physics: the AB effect for neutral electric
dipoles. In fact, the Hamiltonian for electrically polarized excitons taking into account the
gauge field, which leads to the AB effect, was known long ago [43], though without any
connection to the AB effect:
2

1 
e 2
1
1
H=
p A =
p [H d] .
(26)
2m
c
2m
c
The Hamiltonian takes into account that a dipole d = ea formed by two charges e connected
with the position vector a feels the electromagnetic vector potential A(r + a) A(r + a)
(a )A(r ) = (a A) + [H a]. The first gradient term can be removed with a gauge
transformation. The second term yields the effective vector potential A = [d H ]/e. For
Bose-condensed excitons in electronhole bilayers (double quantum wells) this Hamiltonian
was used in [3638].


The velocity of a dipole is given by the standard expression v = p ec A m, so the
gauge field A can produce a neutral current of dipoles. However, in a cloud of uncorrelated
excitons the gauge-field effect will be compensated by the canonical momentum p so that
to minimize the kinetic energy. For Bose-condensed particles the situation is different. The
gauge-field velocity vd = eA /mc is not curl-free in general, its vorticity being
1
[ [H d]].
(27)
mc
The canonical momentum p = h
is curl-free and therefore cannot compensate the gaugefield velocity if vortices are absent. Thus, the gauge field makes a Bose condensate of dipoles
rotate.
Excitons in a double well have a z component of the dipole moment dz = ea, where a is
on the order of the distance between two wells. For an axisymmetric 2D exciton cloud in an
axisymmetric magnetic field (figure 3) the z component of the gauge-field vorticity is


dz Hr Hr
+
,
(28)
z =
mc r
r
= [ vd ] =

where Hr is the radial in-plane component of the magnetic field produced by a long thin
solenoid (see figure 3). The flaring magnetic field around its end is similar to that of the
magnetic monopole. If the distance L of the exciton cloud from the solenoid end is much
larger than the cloud radius R the radial magnetic field is linear with respect to r: Hr = H0 r/R,
8

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

+
+ + +
+ + +
+ +
+
-

+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+
+
+

+ +
+ +
+

- - - - - -

Figure 3. The exciton cloud in the electron-hole bilayer in the flaring magnetic field.

where H0 = Hz R/L is the radial magnetic field at the cloud boundary r = R and Hz is the
axial magnetic field in the cloud center. Then the gauge field fully simulates the solid-body
rotation with the angular velocity  = z /2 = H0 d/mcR = eH0 a/mcR. Later on we shall
ignore the axial field Hz . Its effect can be really removed by putting a second solenoid above
the cloud mirroring the first one.
If the magnetic field is strong enough it creates vortices [36]. Let us estimate the critical
magnetic field. The kinetic energy of the Bose condensate is given by

2

h

m
vd (r ) dr ,
(29)
E=
n2 (r)
2
m
where is the phase of the Bose-condensate wavefunction, and integration is over the whole
2D condensate with the 2D density distribution n2 (r ). For low magnetic fields the phasegradient velocity is absent, and the kinetic energy of the axisymmetric cloud of the radius R is
given by
 R
E0 = m
n2 (r)vd (r)2 r dr.
(30)
0

This energy increases with the magnetic field and at some critical magnetic field becomes
larger than the energy of the state with a single-quantum vortex at the cloud center:


 R
h
2
n2 (r) vd (r)
r dr.
(31)
Ev = m
mr
0
In an electrostatic trap for excitons with steep walls [33] one may neglect spatial variation of
the exciton density n2, and the condition Ev = E0 yields the critical value of the magnetic
field H0 [36]:
R
h
c
ln ,
Hcr =
(32)
dR rc
where rc is the vortex core radius used as a lower cutoff in the integral for the vortex energy.
1/2
Assuming rc of the order of the interparticle distance n2
(this yields an upper bound on the
10
critical magnetic field) and using the values n2 = 10 cm2 and R = 10 m for the density
9

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

and the cloud radius, (32) yields Hcr = 293 G. Thus, magnetic fields of about a few hundred
G are enough for vortex creation. At further growth of the magnetic field more and more
vortices should penetrate into the cloud eventually forming a vortex array similar to that in
mechanically rotated superfluids. However, the role of vortices is opposite in the two cases.
At the mechanical rotation of the container the superfluid does not rotate without vortices,
but does rotate when vortices appear. At the gauge-field rotation the superfluid rotates in the
vortex-free state, whereas vortices tend to suppress rotation eventually stopping it when there
is a large number of them.
One can detect the gauge-field rotation by observation of photoluminescence. Bose
condensation of excitons in the double quantum well should lead to emission of coherent
light [4446]. The dipole interaction of excitons with the electromagnetic field is linear with
respect to exciton creation and annihilation operators. Their averages vanish in the Fock states
with fixed numbers of excitons, but must be replaced by the Bose condensate wavefunction
in the coherent state resulting from Bose condensation. This leads to an oscillating classical
polarization component


(r )
P (r ) = Re d ei0 t ,
(33)
S
where
(r ) is the Bose condensate wavefunction normalized to the total number N of excitons

( |(r )|2 d2 r = n2 (r ) d2 r = N), S is the area of the exciton cloud, and 0 is the frequency
0 . Thus, the total oscillating
determined by the energy
Eb = h
 of the exciton annihilation
polarization component P (r ) d2 r is proportional to N , whereas the constant average total
polarization dN is proportional to the total number of particles. In general the exciton dipole
moment d may have three complex components dx , dy , dz . For example, the dipole rotating in
the plane corresponds to dy = idx . A coherent light emitted by an oscillating macroscopic
dipole can be treated classically [47]. The light power emitted into the elementary solid body
angle d = sin d d is given by

2

ck 4 |d |2 
dW (, )
ikin r
=
(r ) e
d2 r  ,
(34)

d
8 S
S
where and are the polar and azimuthal angle of the wavevector k of light with the inplane
component kin (kin = k sin , k = 0 /c), d is the projection of the dipole moment onto the
plane normal to k, which determines the polarization of light, and
|d |2 = |dx |2 (1 sin2 cos2 ) + |dy |2 (1 sin2 sin2 )
+ |dz |2 sin2 (dx dy + dx dy ) sin2 sin cos
+ sin cos [(dx dz + dx dz ) cos + (dy dz + dy dz ) sin ].

(35)

This result fully agrees with earlier calculations of the radiative decay rate using Fermis Golden
Rule [48, 49], if one defines the rate of emission of a photon with the inplane wavevector
kin as  = 4 2 (dW/d)/(Sk 2h
0 cos ). This justifies a purely classical treatment of
luminescence.
In the long-wavelength limit kin r 0 (34) yields a smooth distribution of the emitted
power over the solid angle sphere: sin2 for the dipole moment normal to the plane
(dx = dy = 0) and (1 + cos2 ) for the circularly polarized inplane dipole moment (dz = 0,
dy = idx ). But if the inplane dipole moment is linearly or elliptically polarized the axial
symmetry of the distribution is broken, and the emitted power depends on the azimuthal angle
. The total emitted power does not depend on orientation of the dipole moment:

2


dW (, )
ck 4 |d|2 
W =
(r ) d2 r  .
(36)
d =

d
3 S
S
S
10

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

1.0
dW
d
0.8

0.6

0.4

3
2

0.2

0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

= 8 W/ck 4 |dz |2 N for the

Figure 4. Angular dependence of the reduced luminescence power W
axial dipole dz . (1) The vortex-free state in the long wavelength limit kR 0. (2) The vortex-free
state, kR = 3. (3) The central-vortex state, kR = 3. The luminescence in the central-vortex state
at kR 0 vanishes.

In the vortex-free state, where the phase of (r ) is constant, the power W = ck 4 |d|2 N/3
is proportional to the total number of Bose-condensed excitons. However, if a vortex appears
in the cloud center,
 emission becomes impossible because of destructive phase interference in
the condensate ( (r ) d2 r = 0). This is a strong effect, which can be used for experimental
identification of Bose condensation and vortices.
In the short wavelength limit kR the effect of vortices is also present, but the
central vortex is not able to fully suppress radiation. The vortex effect can be evaluated with
comparison of the coherence factor in (34) for the vortex-free state,
1
S


ikin r

(r ) e
S

 2
2 n2 R
2 n2
d ikin r cos
e
J1 (kin R),
d2 r =
r dr
=
R2 0
2
kin R
0

and for the state with a vortex in the center:


 2

2 n2 R
d i(+kin r cos )
1
e
(r ) eikin r d2 r =
r
dr
S S
R2 0
2
0
  



i n2 kin R
3
5
k2 R2
, 2,
, in
,
=
1 F2
3
2
2
4

(37)

(38)

where 1 F 2 ({a}, {b, c}, z) is the hypergeometric function and spatial variation of the exciton
density n2 = ||2 was neglected. The effect of interference on the luminescence by the axial
dipole dz is demonstrated in figure 4.
Though the present analysis is focused on the exciton Bose-condensate in double quantum
wells, the gauge-field rotation is as general phenomenon as the AB effect itself. One can
observe the gauge-field rotation replacing the exciton cloud in figure 1 by a helium layer or
a cloud of Bose-condensed cold atoms and adding an axial electric field necessary for their
electrical polarization. Note that this geometry (axial electric and radial magnetic field) is
different from the geometry planned by Sato and Packard [30] for their experiment in superfluid
4
He (radial electric and axial magnetic field).
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J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 354003

E B Sonin

4. Conclusions
Two examples of the AB phenomenon in neutral liquids were analyzed. The first one is the
transverse force from quasiparticles scattered by a vortex in superfluids. In the present paper
the phonon scattering was investigated in the configurational space. But one can also derive
the phonon transverse force using the partial-wave expansion [10, 15]. In the latter method
the problem of small-angle divergence manifests itself in ambiguity of treating the partialwave sums divergent at large angular momenta. But a proper treatment of this expansion
eventually gives the same result as that in the configurational space. These two methods
are supplemented by the analysis of the wavepacket deflection in the paraxial approximation
[20, 21]. Full agreement between the three methods provides a solid basis for the well defined
transverse force on a vortex or a fluxon despite numerous attempts to refute its existence.
The second example is the AB effect in the Bose condensate of electrical dipoles. It was
shown that a radial magnetic field is able to rotate a Bose condensate of electrically polarized
neutral particles. This leads to penetration of vortices at some critical field. In an exciton Bose
condensate in a double quantum well vortices strongly affect the photoluminescence from the
exciton cloud. This can be used for their experimental detection. The existence of vortices is
a direct consequence and evidence of exciton Bose condensation.
These two examples illustrate how important are the AharonovBohm effect and its
analogs in modern condensed matter physics.

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