On the alleged nonlocal and topological nature of the molecular Aharonov-Bohm effect

Abstract

The nonlocal and topological nature of the molecular Aharonov-Bohm (MAB) effect is examined for real electronic Hamiltonians. A notion of preferred gauge for MAB is suggested. The MAB effect in the linear + quadratic $E\otimes \epsilon$ Jahn-Teller system is shown to be essentially analogues to an anisotropic Aharonov-Casher effect for an electrically neutral spin$-{1/2}$ particle encircling a certain configuration of lines of charge.