Giant diamagnetism of a quantum charged particle after inversion of the magnetic field

Abstract

We consider a quantum charged particle moving in the $xy$ plane under the action of a uniform perpendicular time-dependent magnetic field, in the presence of a parabolic binding potential. The time-dependent probability distribution of the magnetic moment is calculated analytically and numerically in the case of initial thermodynamic equilibrium state. In the high-temperature regime, the initial distribution is almost symmetric, resulting in a tiny mean diamagnetism. However, if the magnetic field eventually changes its sign, the fragile balance between the diamagnetic and paramagnetic ``wings'' of the probability distribution becomes broken, resulting in a giant mean diamagnetic moment, exceeding the initial one by several orders of magnitude. The final mean value of the magnetic moment is inversely proportional to the strength of the binding potential, and it does not depend on the Planck constant in the high-temperature regime. Strong fluctuations of the magnetic moment (described in terms of the variance) exist in all temperature regimes.