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Revisiting Scattering Enhancement from the Aharonov-Bohm Effect

T. Daniel Brennan, Jaipratap Singh Grewal, and Eric Y. Yang

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 021601 – Published 8 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cdns-8bw7

Abstract

We revisit the problem of a charged particle scattering off of an Aharonov-Bohm cosmic string. A classic computation gave an infinite total scattering cross section, leading to a Callan-Rubakov-like enhancement which can have important implications on baryon number asymmetry in the early Universe. However, unlike the Callan-Rubakov effect, the Aharonov-Bohm interaction is topological and thus it is surprising that it leads to such a dramatic dynamical effect for single particle scattering. We reexamine this old problem through the modern lens of generalized global symmetries by embedding Aharanov-Bohm strings in a discrete gauge theory. We show that the scattering cross section is suppressed by the core size and there is thus no Callan-Rubakov-like enhancement.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 021601– Published 8 July, 2025
  • Received 19 February 2025
  • Accepted 20 June 2025
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