1) School of Chemistry, The Sackler Faculty of Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
2) Institute of Chemistry and Lise Meitner Center for Quantum Chemistry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904 Israel

Inelastic effects arising from electron-phonon coupling in molecular Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometers are studied using the nonequilibrium Green's function method. Results for the magnetoconductance are compared for different values of the electron-phonon coupling strength. At low-bias voltages, the coupling to the phonons does not change the lifetime and leads mainly to scattering phase shifts of the conducting electrons. As a result of these dephasing processes, the magnetoconductance of the molecular AB interferometer becomes more sensitive to the threading magnetic flux as the electron-phonon coupling is increased, opposite to the behavior of an electric gate.

PACS numbers: 73.40.-c, 63.20.Kr, 73.63.-b, 75.75.+a