Classical and macroquantum dynamics of charged particles in a magnetic field

Abstract

The investigations relating to the dynamics of charged particles in a magnetic field carried out over more than 40 years have been reviewed with special reference to the problem of nonadiabaticity due to field inhomogeneity, and time dependence. A detailed overview is presented of the standard approaches to one of the main problems namely the determination of the residence times of charged particles in an adiabatic magnetic trap which involves nonadiabaticity in a crucial way. In a major departure from the standard approach, a new paradigm described here as "macroquantum dynamics" was advanced by the author to address the problem of residence times. The evolution and development of this new paradigm is next presented as the main focus of the review. This consists of a probability amplitude Schrödinger-like formalism for the classical macrodomain, which has been shown to be a description of the system in the correspondence limit of large Landau quantum numbers. It is demonstrated that this represents a remarkable persistence of matter wave behaviour well into the classical macrodomain, leading to unexpected experimental consequences. Experimental results confirming some of the spectacular predictions of this formalism are presented. These refer to the existence of macroscopic matter wave interference phenomena and the observation of the curl-free vector potential à la Aharonov-Bohm in the macrodomain. The problem of the nonadiabatic leakage of particles from an adiabatic trap takes the appearance here of the quantum-like tunneling of the adiabatic potential. The multiplicity of residence times predicted by the set of Schrödinger-like equations have been well confirmed by experiments. A critical comparison is finally presented of the classical vs. macroquantum description of the system in the macrodomain. The new paradigm thus represents an entirely new and unexpected manifestation of quantum dynamics in the classical macrodomain.