Abstract
The IceCube collaboration has instrumented a cubic kilometer of ice with 5160 photo-multipliers. While mainly developed to detect Cherenkov light, any visible light can be used to detect particles within the ice. Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical particles predicted by many theories that extend the Standard model of Particle Physics. They are carriers of a single elementary magnetic charge. For this particle, different light production mechanisms dominate from direct Cherenkov light at highly relativistic velocities (> 0:76 c), indirect Cherenkov light at mildly relativistic velocities (> 0:5 c to 0:76 c), luminescence light at low relativistic velocities (≳ 0:1 c to 0:5 c), as well as catalysis of proton decay at non relativistic velocities (≲ 0:1 c). For each of this speed ranges, searches for magnetic monopoles at the IceCube experiment are either in progress or they have already set the worlds best limits on the flux of magnetic monopoles. A summary of these searches will be presented, outlining already existing results as well as methods used by the currently conducted searches.
Highlights
Since Maxwell published his equations, describing the relation between the electric and magnetic fields in 1864, the reason for the asymmetry between the magnetic and the electric field has been an open issue
The minimal magnetic charge of a magnetic monopole is known from theorie [2] but there is no intrinsic limit on the mass such a particle would possess
The IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory is a neutrino detector situated at the geographical south pole [7]. It consists of 5160 Digital Optical Modules (DOMs) which are submerged into 1 km3 ice of Antarctica
Summary
Since Maxwell published his equations, describing the relation between the electric and magnetic fields in 1864, the reason for the asymmetry between the magnetic and the electric field has been an open issue. The minimal magnetic charge of a magnetic monopole is known from theorie [2] but there is no intrinsic limit on the mass such a particle would possess. Searches range from 1017 GeV (relic monopoles) to 1013 GeV (intermediate mass monopoles) down to 103 GeV (light monopoles) This puts the lowest mass magnetic monopoles already at a potential detection level in current accelerator experiments, while the heavier ones will only be detectable as remnants of the big bang. To detect such rare remnants, a high effective area is needed which makes IceCube well-suited for these searches.
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