Geometric phase of the gyromotion for charged particles in a time-dependent magnetic field
- 1. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
- 2. Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States) and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)
Description
We study the dynamics of the gyrophase of a charged particle in a magnetic field which is uniform in space but changes slowly with time. As the magnetic field evolves slowly with time, the changing of the gyrophase is composed of two parts. The first part is the dynamical phase, which is the time integral of the instantaneous gyrofrequency. The second part, called geometric gyrophase, is more interesting, and it is an example of the geometric phase which has found many important applications in different branches of physics. If the magnetic field returns to the initial value after a loop in the parameter space, then the geometric gyrophase equals the solid angle spanned by the loop in the parameter space. This classical geometric gyrophase is compared with the geometric phase (the Berry phase) of the spin wave function of an electron placed in the same adiabatically changing magnetic field. Even though gyromotion is not the classical counterpart of the quantum spin, the similarities between the geometric phases of the two cases nevertheless reveal the similar geometric nature of the different physics laws governing these two physics phenomena.
Additional details
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1063/1.3609830;
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Physics of Plasmas
- Journal Volume
- 18
- Journal Issue
- 7
- Journal Page Range
- p. 072505-072505.7
- ISSN
- 1070-664X
- CODEN
- PHPAEN
INIS
- Country of Publication
- United States
- Country of Input or Organization
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- INIS RN
- 44006352
- Subject category
- S70: PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY;
- Descriptors DEI
- CHARGED PARTICLES; ELECTRONS; FUNCTIONS; GEOMETRY; GYROFREQUENCY; INTEGRALS; MAGNETIC FIELDS; MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS; PLASMA; SOLIDS; SPACE; SPIN; SPIN WAVES; TIME DEPENDENCE
- Descriptors DEC
- ANGULAR MOMENTUM; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; FERMIONS; FLUID MECHANICS; HYDRODYNAMICS; LEPTONS; MATHEMATICS; MECHANICS; PARTICLE PROPERTIES
Optional Information
- Notes
- (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics