NONLOCALITY AND THE AHARONOV-BOHM EFFECT

At first sight the Aharonov-Bohm effect appears nonlocal, though not i n the way EPR/ Bell correlations are generally acknowledged to be nonl ocal. This paper applies an analysis of nonlocality to the Aharonov-Bo hm effect to show that its peculiarities may be blamed either on a fai lure of a principle of local action or on a failure of a principle of separability. Different interpretations of quantum mechanics disagree on how blame should be allocated. The parallel between the Aharonov-Bo hm effect and violations of Bell inequalities turns out to be so close that a balanced assessment of the nature and significance of quantum nonlocality requires a detailed study of both effects.