Magnetic Monopoles: Explained and Implications

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    Magnetic Monopole
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SUMMARY

This discussion centers on the existence and implications of magnetic monopoles in physics, referencing key concepts from classical electromagnetism and quantum field theory. Despite extensive theoretical exploration, including Dirac's monopole and Kaluza-Klein monopole, no experimental evidence for magnetic monopoles has been found. The conversation highlights the potential role of monopoles in explaining charge quantization and their significance in achieving symmetry in Maxwell's equations. The t'Hooft-Polyakov monopole is noted for its connection to dual superconductivity and quark confinement.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of classical electromagnetism and Maxwell's equations
  • Familiarity with quantum field theory concepts, including duality
  • Knowledge of particle physics, specifically fermions and gauge theories
  • Awareness of historical theories regarding magnetic monopoles, such as Dirac's and Kaluza-Klein monopoles
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the implications of magnetic monopoles on charge quantization
  • Explore the characteristics and significance of the t'Hooft-Polyakov monopole
  • Study the dual abelian Higgs model and its relation to quark confinement
  • Investigate experimental searches for magnetic monopoles and their theoretical frameworks
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of electromagnetism and quantum field theory, and researchers interested in the fundamental aspects of particle physics and symmetry in theoretical models.

woodysooner
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Briefly in our Eng PHYSII class in the text of Halliday and Resnik it talked about physicists looking for magnetic monoploles, can someone explain this and the implications of it.
 
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I don't think people are looking for this anymore. Some symetries in classical EM equations would make you predict they exist, in parallele to electric charges (you could quite easily adapt the theory for it). But in the end, a magnetic field can only exist when these electric charges move, and it is created as a dipole.
 
what is a monopole though. just a dipole that have no ends lol not sure what it means.
 
woodysooner said:
Briefly in our Eng PHYSII class in the text of Halliday and Resnik it talked about physicists looking for magnetic monoploles, can someone explain this and the implications of it.

The fact is that no magnetic monopoles have been ever found (like a point particle being the source of a magnetic field). If there were any magnetic monopole it would explain why is charge quantized.

More info:
http://budoe.bu.edu/~corth/monopole_faq.html
 
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perfect, where the charge comes from, that what i was looking for. thanx.
 
The magnetic phenomena, with respect to it's detailed origin and expression, is one of the most least understood aspects of physics.
It does not appear to be an "emmissive" energy or aspect as such, rather a "closed loop" requirement scenario always involving electrical charges. A true mystery.
 
Magnetic fields can be treated completely as relativistic corrections to the fields of moving electric charges. Hence there is no reason to assume that magnetic charge (aka monopoles) exists.
 
I have certain knowledge about Dirac's monopole and Kaluza-Klein monopole, but not about Wu-Yang monopole and 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole. What characteristics have the 2 last?

I believe that some form of magnetic monopole must exist. They are the missing piece in Maxwell equations to be perfectly symmetrical, and symmetry has proven to be something very important in science
 
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meteor said:
I have certain knowledge about Dirac's monopole and Kaluza-Klein monopole, but not about Wu-Yang monopole and 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole. What characteristics have the 2 last?

I believe that some form of magnetic monopole must exist. They are the missing piece in Maxwell equations to be perfectly symmetrical, and symmetry has proven to be something very important in science


The t'Hooft monopole comes from the dual superconductor model that tries to explain the quarkconfinement. It is formally defined as the point on a manifold where the abelian gauge is not valid. On this point the gauge fields have a singularity and their form (i mean their equation) looks just like the tensor-form of a Dirac string. This thing is an anti-symmetrival tensorfield that represents a magnetic monopole of certain magnetic charge.

regards
marlon
 
  • #10
zefram_c said:
Magnetic fields can be treated completely as relativistic corrections to the fields of moving electric charges. Hence there is no reason to assume that magnetic charge (aka monopoles) exists.


You are abusing the work of Einstein when you state this !

You are obviously missing the point here. It is a fact that magnetic fields can be transformed into electric fields when performing a Lorentz boost.

But this means that magnetic as wel as electric fenomena are DUAL. You are able to interchange the two at any point. They are two "different" things used to describe one exact same thing. This is the duality. When you say that magnetic poles are redundant because the can be transformed into electric fields, you may as well say that all electric fenomena are redundant because they can be transformed into magnetic fenomena by using the DUALITY

regards
marlon
 
  • #11
Are monopoles spin 1/2 particles like electric charges?
Do monopoles have rest mass?
 
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  • #13
kurious said:
Are monopoles spin 1/2 particles like electric charges?

yes, them monopoles are the dual particles to electric charges. They are fermions of certain magnetic charge...
 
  • #14
magnetic monopoles circle around the colour electromagnetic field and thus form fluxtubes along which we will get a linear potential between two static quarks. This is a very nice result in order to explain the quarkconfinement based upon the dual abelian higgs model.

regards
marlon
 

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