Eur. Phys. J. D 49, 249-256 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00142-y

The Maxwell-Lodge effect: significance of electromagnetic potentials in the classical theory

¹ Université de Nice - Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire Jean-Alexandre Dieudonné, UMR 6621 CNRS-UNSA, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 02, France
² Université de Nice – Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, UMR 6622 CNRS-UNSA, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France

Corresponding author: ^a Germain.Rousseaux@unice.fr

Received: 21 March 2008
Published online: 23 July 2008

Abstract

The Aharonov-Bohm effect has been the starting point of the reconsideration of the reality of the vector potential within quantum physics. We argue that the Maxwell-Lodge effect is its classical equivalent: what is the origin of the electromotive force induced in a coil surrounding a (finite) solenoid fed by an alternative current? We demonstrate theoretically, experimentally and numerically that the effect can be understood using the vector potential while it cannot using only the fields.