Abstract
We show that monopoles can be pair produced by cosmological magnetic fields in the early Universe. The pair production gives rise to relic monopoles and, at the same time, induces a self-screening of the magnetic fields. By studying these effects we derive limits on the monopole mass and also on the initial amplitude of primordial magnetic fields. Monopoles of GUT scale mass can even be produced if primordial magnetic fields exist at sufficiently high redshifts.
Highlights
The hypothesis that magnetic monopoles exist, albeit without any experimental evidence, has long been a subject of intense research
In this paper we show that monopoleantimonopole pairs can be produced by primordial magnetic fields and explore their cosmological implications
In order to evaluate the number of monopoles produced from primordial magnetic fields, we identify the decay rate (2.1) with the rate of pair production per unit volume per unit time
Summary
The hypothesis that magnetic monopoles exist, albeit without any experimental evidence, has long been a subject of intense research. By solving the monopole problem, cosmic inflation prohibits relic monopoles from a phase transition to be observed Another possible venue for monopole production is in strong magnetic fields, from which monopole-antimonopole pairs are nonperturbatively produced. A strong enough primordial magnetic field dissipates energy by the monopole pair production, and by accelerating the monopoles By evaluating these effects, we obtain consistency conditions for primordial magnetic fields to survive until today to make up the observed magnetic fields, within physical theories that contain either elementary or solitonic monopoles. We discuss the possibility of primordial magnetic fields producing an observable abundance of monopoles in the Universe, or even giving rise to a new kind of monopole problem. The magnetic charge of the monopole is typically large (e.g., g ≈ 21n for e ≈ 0.30), most of the analyses apply even if g is tiny
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
