Monopole Mass Research Articles

Monopoles and fermions in the Standard Model

We consider all magnetic monopoles that could have settled in the Standard Model after descending from a generic microscopic theory. These monopoles have Standard Model quantum numbers, are stable, and we also require that their magnetic fluxes are consistent with the electroweak symmetry breaking. Scattering processes involving quarks, leptons and protons on these monopoles are studied using partial waves decomposition. These processes in the lowest partial wave are known to be unsuppressed by the monopole mass and are relevant for monopole catalysis of proton decay. We provide estimates for scattering cross-sections and investigate and confirm the applicability of the twisted sector approach to scattering processes on these Standard Model monopoles. We find that the SM monopole catalysis processes are universal and model-independent.

On the cosmological abundance of magnetic monopoles

We demonstrate that Debye shielding cannot be employed to constrain the cosmological abundance of magnetic monopoles, contrary to what is stated in the previous literature. Current model-independent bounds on the monopole abundance are then revisited for unit Dirac magnetic charge. We find that the Andromeda Parker bound can be employed to set an upper limit on the monopole flux at the level of FM ≲ 5.3 × 10−19cm−2s−1sr−1 for a monopole mass 1013 GeV/c2 ≲ m ≲ 1016 GeV/c2, which is more stringent than the MACRO direct search limit by two orders of magnitude. This translates into stringent constraints on the monopole density parameter ΩM at the level of 10−7˘10−4 depending on the mass. For larger monopole masses the scenarios in which magnetic monopoles account for all or the majority of dark matter are disfavored.

Primordial monopoles, black holes and gravitational waves

We show how topologically stable superheavy magnetic monopoles and primordial black holes can be generated at observable levels by the waterfall field in hybrid inflation models based on grand unified theories. In SU(5) ×U(1) χ grand unification, the monopole mass is of order 4 × 1017 GeV, and it carries a single unit (2 π /e) of Dirac magnetic charge as well as screened color magnetic charge. The monopole density is partially diluted to an observable value, and accompanied with the production of primordial black holes with mass of order 1017–1019 g which may make up the entire dark matter in the universe. The tensor to scalar ratio r is predicted to be of order 10-5–10 -4 which should be testable in the next generation of CMB experiments such as CMB-S4 and LiteBIRD. The gravitational wave spectrum generated during the waterfall transition is also presented. The observed baryon asymmetry can be explained via leptogenesis.

Quantization of Axion-Gauge Couplings and Noninvertible Higher Symmetries.

We derive model-independent quantization conditions on the axion couplings (sometimes known as the anomaly coefficients) to the standard model gauge group [SU(3)×SU(2)×U(1)_{Y}]/Z_{q} with q=1, 2, 3, 6. Using these quantization conditions, we prove that any QCD axion model to the right of the E/N=8/3 line on the |g_{aγγ}|-m_{a} plot must necessarily face the axion domain wall problem in a postinflationary scenario. We further demonstrate the higher-group and noninvertible global symmetries in the standard model coupled to a single axion. These generalized global symmetries lead to universal bounds on the axion string tension and the monopole mass. If the axion were discovered in the future, our quantization conditions could be used to constrain the global form of the standard model gauge group.

Global monopoles in the extended Gauss-Bonnet gravity

We discuss self-gravitating global O(3) monopole solutions associated with the spontaneous breaking of O(3) down to a global O(2) in an extended Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity in ($3+1$) dimensions, in the presence of a nontrivial scalar field $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Phi}}$ that couples to the Gauss-Bonnet higher curvature combination with a coupling parameter $\ensuremath{\alpha}$. We obtain a range of values for $\ensuremath{\alpha}<0$ (in our notation and conventions), which are such that a global (Israel type) matching is possible of the space-time exterior to the monopole core $\ensuremath{\delta}$ with a de Sitter interior, guaranteeing the positivity of the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) mass of the monopole, which, together with a positive core radius $\ensuremath{\delta}>0$, are both dynamically determined as a result of this matching. It should be stressed that in the general relativity (GR) limit, where $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Phi}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\text{constant}$, such a matching yields a negative ADM monopole mass, which might be related to the stability issues the [Barriola-Vilenkin (BV)] global monopole of GR faces. Thus, our global monopole solution, which shares many features with the BV monopole, such as an asymptotic-space-time deficit angle, of potential phenomenological/cosmological interest, but has, par contrast, a positive ADM mass, has a chance of being a stable configuration, although a detailed stability analysis is pending.

Static magnetic dipole solutions of Einstein–Maxwell equations from the soliton solutions of a Kerr object

Using the solution generating techniques of Das and Chaudhuri (Pramana J. Phys. 40, 277 (1993); Pramana J. Phys. 58, 449 (2002)), static magnetovac solutions of Einstein–Maxwell equations in general relativity are constructed from the stationary gravitational soliton solutions of Einstein's field equations corresponding to a Kerr object. The techniques followed in the present paper have not been much used in the literature so far although the results are obtained in a straightforward way. The stationary gravitational two-soliton solutions of Einstein's field equations for a Kerr object are generated using the soliton technique of Belinskii and Zakharov (Sov. Phys. JETP 48, 985 (1978); Sov. Phys. JETP 50, 1 (1979)). In the next step, following the procedure of Das and Chaudhuri, mentioned above, static magnetovac solutions of Einstein–Maxwell field equations corresponding to the generated stationary two-soliton solutions of the Kerr object are constructed. The solutions are found to be well behaved at spatial infinity and contain monopole, dipole, and other higher mass multipoles. The mass and the dipole moment of the source are evaluated. It is shown that by redefining some constants appearing in the solutions, Bonnor's (Z. Phys. 190, 444 (1966)) magnetic dipole solutions are faithfully reproduced.

Mass Spectrometric Studies of Valine Molecules by Electron Shock in the Gas Phase

Relevance. Valine is one of the eight amino acids not synthesised by the human body, necessary for the synthesis and growth of body tissues, muscle coordination; regulation of nervous processes, nitrogen metabolism, and stabilisation of the hormonal background. Since α-amino acids contain an asymmetric carbon atom, they can exist as optical isomers (mirror antipodes) that play an essential role in protein biosynthesis. The structure of matter and the physical processes that occur in it are studied using the method of mass spectrometry and spectral analysis. This indicates the relevance of the problem that was studied in this paper. Purpose. Mass spectrometric studies of the formation of ionic products of single and dissociative ionisation of the valine molecule (C5 H11NO2) with electrons according to the method of beams intersecting within the energy range of bombarding electrons 6-70 eV. To consider the mechanisms of formation of the most intense ion fragments during dissociative ionisation by electron shock. Methods. The experiment was conducted on an installation with a monopole mass spectrometer of the MX-7304A type, which belongs to the class of dynamic mass analysers with electron shock ionisation in the range of mass numbers 0-120 Da. The mass spectra of molecules were investigated at different temperatures of the source of molecules in the range of 300-600 K. Results. The obtained results are compared with the mass spectra of the D-, L-, and DL-enantiomeric forms of the valine molecule with data from the NIST and SDBS databases. The features of the processes of formation of ion fragments of valine molecules by electronic shock are analysed in detail, and the dynamics of the yield of ion fragments in the range of evaporation temperatures of the initial substance of 300-440 K is also studied. The total relative ionisation cross-section of the molecule under study was measured according to mass spectrometric method with an ionising electron energy of 5-60 eV. Based on the results of experimental studies, a threshold section of the dependence of the total relative cross-section of valine ionisation is determined and given in this paper. Conclusions. A detailed analysis of the processes of formation of fragment ions in the mass spectra allows demonstrating the influence of the structural forms of valine enantiomers on the redistribution of relative intensities of product ions

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

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.

Search for Relativistic Magnetic Monopoles with Eight Years of IceCube Data.

We present an all-sky 90% confidence level upper limit on the cosmic flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles using 2886days of IceCube data. The analysis was optimized for monopole speeds between 0.750c and 0.995c, without any explicit restriction on the monopole mass. We constrain the flux of relativistic cosmic magnetic monopoles to a level below 2.0×10^{-19} cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1} over the majority of the targeted speed range. This result constitutes the most strict upper limit to date for magnetic monopoles with β≳0.8 and up to β∼0.995 and fills the gap between existing limits on the cosmic flux of nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles.

An effective field theory treatment of the production and annihilation of magnetic monopoles and their relic abundance

We revisit the thermal production and annihilation of magnetic monopoles and their relic abundance in order to gain a deeper physical interpretation on the monopole phenomenology predicted from the Baines et al.’s effective field theory, recently proposed in the description of monopole pair production via Drell–Yan and photon fusion processes. In this sense, we use of the vacuum cross sections for the Drell–Yan reactions derived within the mentioned framework to evaluate the cross section averaged over the thermal distribution associated to other particles that constitute the hot medium where the monopoles propagate. In the considered range of monopole mass with spin-zero and spin-half, our findings suggest that the thermally averaged cross sections for the pair production are highly suppressed, while at higher temperatures those for the annihilation of lighter pairs reach larger magnitudes. Besides, we observe that smaller temperature leads to a rate of annihilation for scalar monopoles smaller than the one for fermionic monopoles, which might be interpreted as a theoretical evidence of a more pronounced stability for spin-zero and heavier monopoles. Then we input these thermally averaged cross sections into the kinetic equation that describes the evolution of the monopole abundance via an extension of a freeze-out theory. Our results infer that heavier monopoles achieve the equilibrium at earlier stages of the expansion, and consequently at higher temperatures. In addition, larger monopole masses produce higher values of the relic abundance. Besides, the results indicate that the abundance does not behave differently for spin-zero and spin-half relic monopoles.

Searching for monopoles via monopolium multiphoton decays

We explore the phenomenology of a model of monopolium based on an electromagnetic dual formulation of Zwanziger and lattice gauge theory. The monopole is assumed to have a finite-sized inner structure based on a 't Hooft-Polyakov like solution, with the magnetic charge uniformly distributed on the surface of a sphere. The monopole and anti-monopole potential becomes linear plus Coulomb outside the sphere, analogous to the Cornell potential utilised in the study of quarkonium states. Discovery of a resonance feature in the diphoton channel as well as in a higher multiplicity photon channel would be a smoking gun for the existence of monopoles within this monopolium construction, with the mass and bound state properties extractable. Utilising the current LHC results in the diphoton channel, constraints on the monopole mass are determined for a wide range of model parameters. These are compared to the most recent MoEDAL results and found to be significantly more stringent in certain parameter regions, providing strong motivation for exploring higher multiplicity photon final state searches.

Electroweak monopoles with a non-linearly realized weak hypercharge

We present a finite-energy electroweak-monopole solution obtained by considering non-linear extensions of the hypercharge sector of the Electroweak Theory, based on logarithmic and exponential versions of electrodynamics. We find constraints for a class of non-linear extensions and also work out an estimate for the monopole mass in this scenario. We finally derive a lower bound for the energy of the monopole and discuss the simpler case of a Dirac magnetic charge.

Monopole-antimonopole pair production in primordial magnetic fields

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.

An electroweak monopole, Dirac quantization and the weak mixing angle

We consider an extension of the Standard Model that was proposed recently by one of the current authors (PQH), which admits magnetic monopoles with a mass of order of a few TeV. We impose, in addition to topological quantization in the SU(2) sector of the model, the Dirac Quantization Condition (DQC) required for consistency of the quantum theory of a charged electron in the presence of the monopole. This leads to the prediction sin2θW=1/4, where θW is the weak mixing angle at the energy scale set by the monopole mass. A leading-order renormalization-group analysis yields the value of sin2θW≃0.231 at the Z-boson mass, as measured by experiment, under suitable conditions on the spectrum of the extra particles in the model.

ВЛИЯНИЕ ИСКАЖЕНИЙ ЭЛЕКТРОДНОЙ СИСТЕМЫ НА АНАЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ ТРИПОЛЬНОГО МАСС-АНАЛИЗАТОРА

The aim of this work is to study the influence of possible distortions of electrode system of tripole mass analyzer on its analytical characteristics. The influence of electrode shifts on the operating parameters of tripole mass analyzer and a comparison with monopole mass analyzer are considered. As a result of numerical simulation, it was found that any deviation from the symmetry of electrode system of tripole mass analyzer significantly affects its analytical characteristics. Symmetrical shifts of «tripole» electrodes in comparison with monopole lead to a greater deterioration in analytical characteristics.

From NANOGrav to LIGO with metastable cosmic strings

We interpret the recent NANOGrav results in terms of a stochastic gravitational wave background from metastable cosmic strings. The observed amplitude of a stochastic signal can be translated into a range for the cosmic string tension and the mass of magnetic monopoles arising in theories of grand unification. In a sizable part of the parameter space, this interpretation predicts a large stochastic gravitational wave signal in the frequency band of ground-based interferometers, which can be probed in the very near future. We confront these results with predictions from successful inflation, leptogenesis and dark matter from the spontaneous breaking of a gauged B−L symmetry.

Hidden sector monopole dark matter with matter domination

The thermal freeze-out mechanism for relic dark matter heavier than O(10 − 100 TeV) requires cross-sections that violate perturbative unitarity. Yet the existence of dark matter heavier than these scales is certainly plausible from a particle physics perspective, pointing to the need for a non-thermal cosmological history for such theories. Topological dark matter is a well-motivated scenario of this kind. Here the hidden-sector dark matter can be produced in abundance through the Kibble-Zurek mechanism describing the non-equilibrium dynamics of defects produced in a second order phase transition. We revisit the original topological dark matter scenario, focusing on hidden-sector magnetic monopoles, and consider more general cosmological histories. We find that a monopole mass of order (1–105) PeV is generic for the thermal histories considered here, if monopoles are to entirely reproduce the current abundance of dark matter. In particular, in a scenario involving an early era of matter domination, the monopole number density is always less than or equal to that in a pure radiation dominated equivalent provided a certain condition on critical exponents is satisfied. This results in a larger monopole mass needed to account for a fixed relic abundance in such cosmologies.

Magnetic monopoles revisited: Models and searches at colliders and in the Cosmos

In this review, we discuss recent developments in both the theory and the experimental searches of magnetic monopoles in past, current and future colliders and in the Cosmos. The theoretical models include, apart from the standard Grand Unified Theories, extensions of the Standard Model that admit magnetic monopole solutions with finite energy and masses that can be as light as a few TeV. Specifically, we discuss, among other scenarios, modified Cho–Maison monopoles and magnetic monopoles in (string-inspired, higher derivative) Born–Infeld extensions of the hypercharge sector of the Standard Model. We also outline the conditions for which effective field theories describing the interaction of monopoles with photons are valid and can be used for result interpretation in monopole production at colliders. The experimental part of the review focuses on, past and present, cosmic and collider searches, including the latest bounds on monopole masses and magnetic charges by the ATLAS and MoEDAL experiments at the LHC, as well as prospects for future searches.

An effective field theory approach to monopolium

In this work we investigate the interaction between spin-zero and spin-one monopoles by making use of an effective field theory based on two-body and four-body interaction parts. In particular, we analyze the formation of bound state of monopole-antimonopole (i.e. monopolium). The magnetic-charge conjugation symmetry is studied in analogy to the usual charge conjugation to define a particle basis, for which we find bound-state solutions with relatively small binding energies and which allows us to identify the bounds on the parameters in the effective Lagrangians. Estimations of their masses, binding energies and scattering lengths are performed as functions of monopole masses and interaction strength in a specific renormalization scheme. We also examine the general validity of the approach and the feasibility of detecting the monopolium.

't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles in non-Hermitian quantum field theory

We construct exact 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole solutions in a non-Hermitian field theory with local non-Abelian SU(2) gauge symmetry and a modified antilinear CPT symmetry. The solutions are obtained in a fourfold Bogomolny-Prasad-Sommerfield scaling limit giving rise to two different types of monopole masses that saturate the lower energy bound. These two masses only coincide in the Hermitian limit and in the limit in which the symmetry breaking vacuum tends to the trivial symmetry preserving vacuum. In the two theories corresponding to the two known Dyson maps these two masses are exchanged, unlike the Higgs and the gauge masses, which remain the same in both theories. We identify three separate regions in parameter space bounded by different types of exceptional points. In the first region the monopole masses are finite and tend both to zero at the boundary exceptional point, in the second the monopole masses become complex and in the third only one of the monopole masses becomes zero at the boundary exceptional point, whereas the other tends to infinity. We find a self-dual point in parameter space at which the gauge mass becomes exactly identical to the monopole mass.