Generalized dyons and magnetic dipoles: The issue of angular momentum

Abstract

It is known that a non-Abelian magnetic monopole cannot rotate globally (although it may possess a nonzero angular momentum density). At the same time, the total angular momentum of a magnetic dipole equals the electric charge. In this work we question the generality of these results by considering a number of generalizations of the Georgi-Glashow model. We study two different types of finite energy, regular configurations: solutions with net magnetic charge and monopole-antimonopole pairs with zero net magnetic charge. These configurations are endowed with an electric charge and carry also a nonvanishing angular momentum density. However, we argue that the qualitative results found in the Georgi-Glashow model are generic and thus a magnetic monopole cannot spin as long as the matter fields feature the usual ``monopole'' asymptotic behavior independently of the dynamics of the model. A study of the properties of the dyons and magnetic dipoles in some generalizations of the Georgi-Glashow model supplemented with higher order Skyrme-like terms in the gauge curvature and Higgs fields is given quantitatively.