Paper detail

Gaussian Curvature and Global effects : gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect revisited

Using the Gauss-Bonnet formula, integral of the Gaussian curvature over a 2-surface enclosed by a curve in the asymptotically flat region of a static spacetime was found to be a measure of a gravitational analogue of Aharonov-Bohm effect by Ford and Vilenkin in the linearized regime. Employing the 1+3 formulation of spacetime decomposition we study the same effect in the context of full Einstein field equations for stationary spacetimes. Applying our approach to static tube-like and cylindrical distributions of dust not only we recover their result but also obtain an extra term which is interpreted to be representing the classical version of the Colella-Overhauser-Werner effect (the COW experiment).