Induced nano-space curvature and the Aharonov-Bohm effect

The Aharonov-Bohm effect has long been an accepted theory demonstrated easily in a classical double slit experiment using a shielded solenoid through which an electric current is passed. (As any first year electronics student knows, when an alternating current is passed through a coil of wire wound around a ferrite core, a voltage is induced, as is an electromagnetic field. The student is also aware that there is a 90° phase difference between voltage and current (voltage leads current). Furthermore, a bunching of electrons occurs in the coil.) Observations of the AB effect include shaping of the trajectory of a finely controlled beam of charged particles when it is passed outside of an induced magnetic field. The particles are said to be excluded from the magnetic field regions, yet a phase change of their photonic wavelength occurs when a current is passed through the solenoid. In effect, no forces are acting on the electron beam even though it is obvious that it is still affected by the presence of the shielded solenoid.

In an experiment to demonstrate the absence of forces in the Aharonov-Bohm effect, Herman Batelaan, Adam Caprez and Brett Barwick of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln appear to be the first to have actually provided demonstrable proof that no forces are involved in the slight bending of the electrons' trajectory. Batelaan, the scientist who oversaw the experiment, explains that the result represents an important example of the interplay between quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and relativity and stresses the importance that this will have on our understanding of the interplay between quantum mechanics and electromagnetic fields.

In my post of November 20 I pointed out that "we are undeniably macroscopic representations, manifestations if you will, of quantum structures". I feel that we should not be too wary of relating phenomena which occur at all three of the cosms that comprise reality -- the colossal, the macro, and the quantum. I think that what is actually happening in the Nebraska-Lincoln experiment is that space is being curved at the nanoscopic scale, and this effects a phase change of the electron stream to an observer at the macroscopic scale, in effect altering the electrons' vector properties. No physical force is acting on the electron.

As Batelaan stated, the experiment is indeed an important example of the interplay between quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and relativity. What we are witnessing is actually the phenomenon of gravity resulting from the dynamics of a system, and is not necessarily dependent on the presence of an electromagnetic field.