Student <yssual@no-spam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3f27b040$0$1919$626a54ce@news.free.fr...

Dear all,

I would like to know about your thinking of the phase of a particle, by
which is meant (most probably) the phase of its wavefunction. It is often
said to be unphysical, but far from being so when it is not constant and
varies along with the "real" part of the wavefunction. Also I think it
becomes very important when dealing with many particles, since it is the
principal reason why interference behaves the strange way it does. Could
you comment please and say in which cases it is known this phase plays a
major role?

Also, and this is why I follow-up to sci.math, I would much appreciate a
knowledgable expert to list most famous theorems concerning the phase from
the quantum point of view.

I think this question is often overlooked or very poorly addressed (cf.
google for a host of examples) but that its importance is major in a vast
realm of quantum phenomena.

Best regards.

Dirac derived the elementary magnetic monopole charge, g, by
noting that only the phase of the electron wave function changes
under translation in a magnetic potential. In Gaussian units,

g = n (hbar*c / 2e) ~ (137n / 2) e n = 1, 2, 3, ...

Never falsified by observation, but also never observed. See:
http://www.iw.net/~jakoepke/index.html
[Old Man]