Click here to view fulltext PDF

Permanent link:
https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/pram/046/05/0315-0322

Geometric phase; Pancharatnam triangle; parallel transportation

In mid-1950s, Pancharatnam [1] encountered the geometric phase associated with the evolution along a geodesic triangle on the Poincaré sphere. We generalize his 3-vertex phase and employ it as the fundamental building block, to geometrically construct a general ray-space expression for geometric phase. In terms of a reference ray used to specify geometric phase, we delineate clear geometric meanings for gauge transformations and gauge freedom, which are generally regarded as mere mathematical abstractions.

Veer Chand Rakhecha¹ Apoorva G Wagh¹

1. Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai - 400 085, India

Published

May 1996

Manuscript received

27 September 1995