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At least 19 records

Kibble mechanism for electroweak magnetic monopoles and magnetic fields

The vacuum manifold of the standard electroweak model is a three-sphere when one considers homogeneous Higgs field configurations. For inhomogeneous configurations we argue that the vacuum manifold is the Hopf fibered three sphere and that this viewpoint leads to general criteria to detect electroweak monopoles and Z-strings. We extend the Kibble mechanism to study the formation of electroweak monopoles and strings during electroweak symmetry breaking. The distribution of magnetic monopoles produces magnetic fields that have a spectrum B λ ∝ λ –2 , where λ is a smearing length scale. Even as the magnetic monopoles annihilate due to the confining Z-strings, the magnetic field evolves with the turbulent plasma and may be relevant for cosmological observations.

nonperturbative effects↗

Milli-magnetic monopole dark matter and the survival of galactic magnetic fields

A bstract Dark sectors with Abelian gauge symmetries can interact with ordinary matter via kinetic mixing. In such scenarios, magnetic monopoles of a broken dark U(1) will appear in our sector as confined milli-magnetically charged objects under ordinary electromagnetism. Halo ellipticity constraints are shown to significantly bound the strength of dark magnetic Coulomb monopole interactions. The bound magnetic monopole ground state, which in vacuum is stable and has no magnetic charge or moment, is shown to become quantum mechanically unstable in the presence of an external, ordinary magnetic field. If these states contribute sizably to the local dark matter density, they extract significant energy from the galactic magnetic field. We revise and extend this “Parker Bound” on galactic magnetic energy loss to milli-magnetic monopoles which leads to the strongest existing constraints on these states, satisfying our halo ellipticity bounds, over a wide range of magnetic monopole masses.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Magnetic monopole plasma oscillations and the survival of Galactic magnetic fields

This paper explores the general nature of magnetic-monopole plasma oscillations as a theoretical possibility for the observed Galactic magnetic field in the presence of a high abundance of magnetic monopoles. The modification of the hydromagnetic induction equation by the monopole oscillations produces the half-velocity effect, in which the magnetic field is transported bodily with a velocity midway between the motion of the conducting fluid and the monopole plasma. Observational studies of the magnetic field in the Galaxy, and in other galaxies, exclude the half-velocity effect, indicating that the magnetic fields is not associated with monopole oscillations. In any case the phase mixing would destroy the oscillations in less than 100 Myr. The conclusion is that magnetic monopole oscillations do not play a significant role in the galactic magnetic fields. Hence the existence of galactic magnetic fields places a low limit on the monopole flux, so that their detection - if they exist at all - requires a collecting area at least as large as a football field.

Parker, E. N.↗

Search for magnetic monopoles in lunar material

Magnetic monopoles in 19.8 kg. of lunar material returned by Apollo 11, 12 and 14 missions were investigated. The search was done with a detector which is capable of detecting any single monopole of any charge equal to or larger than the minimum value compatible with Dirac's theory. Two experiments were performed, each one with different lunar material. In each experiment the lunar material was divided into several measurement samples. No monopole was found. The magnetic charge of each sample was consistent with zero.

Alvarez, L. W.↗

Magnetic monopoles and cosmology

The number density of magnetic monopoles is calculated in the framework of big-bang cosmology on the basis of a solution to the Boltzmann transport equation in evolutionary cosmological models. The product of the mass and the transition probability of the annihilation process for magnetic monopoles is obtained relative to those for protons and is shown to be greater than about 10 to the 20th power. Based on this result, two likely conclusions are made: (1) monopoles exist, but possess a pole-antipole bound state with binding energy of the order of the monopole rest mass; or (2) magnetic monopoles do not exist.

Adams, P. J.↗

Manipulation of the magnetic monopole injection for topological transition

Abstract Manipulating the topological properties of spin textures in magnetic materials is of great interest due to the rich physics and promising technological applications of these materials in advanced electronic devices. A spin texture with desired topological properties can be created by magnetic monopole injection, resulting in topological transitions involving changes in the topological charge. Therefore, controlling magnetic monopole injection has paramount importance for obtaining the desired spin textures but has not yet been reported. Here, we report the use of reliably manipulated magnetic monopole injection in the topological transition from stripe domains to skyrmions in an Fe/Gd multilayer. An easily tunable in-plane magnetic field applied to an Fe/Gd multilayer plays a key role in the magnetic monopole injection by modulating the local exchange energy. Our findings facilitate the efficient management of topological transitions by providing an important method for controlling magnetic monopole injection.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A method for unique identification of relativistic /greater than 0.5/ magnetic monopoles with a fast film Cerenkov detector

A magnetic monopole traversing a dielectric medium at a velocity greater than the phase velocity of light in that medium, will give rise to Cerenkov radiation with the electric field tangent to the cone generated by the photon wave propagation vector, and the magnetic field normal to that surface. This is the opposite polarization to that encountered with an electric charge. It is proposed that either by inserting a linearly polarizing layer between the radiator and the photographic emulsion, or by selecting a linearly polarizing material as the radiator, one could directly observe the field polarization by examining the photographic image and thus uniquely identify a magnetic monopole. The ability of the detector is further enhanced by the index of refraction dependence of the Cerenkov output from a magnetic monopole.

Pinsky, L. S.↗

Black holes in magnetic monopoles

We study magnetically charged classical solutions of a spontaneously broken gauge theory interacting with gravity. We show that nonsingular monopole solutions exist only if the Higgs field vacuum expectation value v is less than or equal to a critical value v sub cr, which is of the order of the Planck mass. In the limiting case, the monopole becomes a black hole, with the region outside the horizon described by the critical Reissner-Nordstrom solution. For v less than v sub cr, we find additional solutions which are singular at f = 0, but which have this singularity hidden within a horizon. These have nontrivial matter fields outside the horizon, and may be interpreted as small black holes lying within a magnetic monopole. The nature of these solutions as a function of v and of the total mass M and their relation to the Reissner-Nordstrom solutions is discussed.

Lee, Kimyeong↗

Search for magnetic monopoles in the moon

A search was made for the possible existence of magnetic monopoles on the moon using magnetic observations from magnetometer experiments on Explorer 33 and 35. A series of 37 orbital plots were analyzed and it was determined that the net number of magnetic monopoles was less than 1 per 10 to the 7th power cc. This is equivalent to the difference in the number of northern and southern magnetic monopoles within the moon being less than 1 per 10 to the 31st power nucleons. Searches for monopoles from lunar samples have also proven negative.

Schatten, K. H.↗

Search for magnetic monopoles and stable particles with high electric charges in $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

We present a search for magnetic monopoles and high-electric-charge objects using LHC Run 2 $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector. A total integrated luminosity of 138 fb –1 was collected by a specialized trigger. No highly ionizing particle candidate was observed. Considering the Drell-Yan and photon-fusion pair production mechanisms as benchmark models, cross-section upper limits are presented for spin-0 and spin-1/2 magnetic monopoles of magnetic charge 1g D and 2g D and for high-electric-charge objects of electric charge 20 ≤ |z| ≤ 100, for masses between 200 GeV and 4000 GeV. The search improves by approximately a factor of three the previous cross-section limits on the Drell-Yan production of magnetic monopoles and high-electric charge objects. Also, the first ATLAS limits on the photon-fusion pair production mechanism of magnetic monopoles and high-electric-charge objects are obtained.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for magnetic monopoles in lunar material using an electromagnetic detector.

Our search for magnetic monopoles in lunar materials has been concluded with the exploration of an additional 11.5 kg of material returned by the Apollo 11, 12, and 14 missions, using a modified version of our electromagnetic detector. Again, no magnetic monopole was detected. Combining these results with the results of our previous experiment, we set an upper limit of .00017 monopoles/g for the density of isolated monopoles in the lunar surface and improve our upper limits set for the monopole flux in cosmic rays and for monopole pair-production cross section.

Ross, R. R.↗

Search for magnetic monopoles in lunar material.

A search for magnetic monopoles in lunar material has been performed by the electromagnetic measurement of the magnetic charge of samples. All measurements were found consistent with zero charge for all samples and inconsistent with any other value allowed by the Dirac theory. Upper limits are determined for the monopole flux in cosmic radiation and for the pair-production cross section in proton-nucleon collisions.

Eberhard, P. H.↗

Equilibrium field theory of magnetic monopoles in degenerate square spin ice: Correlations, entropic interactions, and charge screening regimes

In this work, we describe degenerate square spin as an ensemble of magnetic monopoles coupled via an emergent entropic field that subsumes the effect of the underlying spin vacuum. We compute their effective free energy, entropic interaction, correlations, screening, and structure factor, and find that they coincide with the experimental ones. Unlike in pyrochlore ices, a dimensional mismatch between real and entropic interactions leads to weak singularities at the pinch points and algebraic correlations at long distances. This algebraic screening can be, however, camouflaged by a pseudoscreening regime.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Extension of the Parker bound on the flux of magnetic monopoles

The Parker bound on the flux of magnetic monopoles is extended and strengthened. A new limit on the survival and growth of a small galactic seed field is obtained which rules out the possibility that monopoles much lighter than 10 exp 17 GeV/sq c can provide the closure density of the universe.

Adams, Fred C.↗