Vortons and monopoles

Abstract

The Dirac quantization condition for a charged-particle/magnetic monopole system leads to an s-wave scattering ambiguity. Either the charged particle must undergo a discontinuous spin-flip or it must exchange charge with the monopole, making it a dyon. A vorton is a soliton, smooth at short distances, which can carry all the quantum numbers of ordinary particles. They can be broadly classified according to whether or not they have an axionic dipole moment. When the charged particle is replaced by a vorton the scattering ambiguity is resolved. The charge exchange occurs due to the chiral anomaly whenever the vorton has an axion dipole moment. The electric charge goes into boudd states of the vorton Dirac equation. A by-product is the Callan-Rubakov effect for vortons.