Cosmological Lithium Solution from Discrete Gauged B-L

The cosmological lithium problem-that theory predicts a primordial abundance far higher than the observed value-has resisted decades of attempts by cosmologists, nuclear physicists, and astronomers alike to root out systematics. We reconsider this problem in the setting of the standard model extended by gauged baryon minus lepton number, which we spontaneously break by a scalar with charge six. Cosmic strings from this breaking can support interactions converting three protons into three positrons, and we argue that an "electric"-"magnetic" interplay can give this process an amplified, strong-scale cross section in an analog of the Callan-Rubakov effect. We suggest such cosmic strings have disintegrated O(1) of the primordial lithium nuclei, and lay out what is necessary for this scheme to succeed. To our knowledge this is the first new physics mechanism with microphysical justification for the abundance of lithium uniquely to be modified after big bang nucleosynthesis.

Search for Magnetic Monopoles and Stable High-Electric-Charge Objects in 13 Tev Proton-Proton Collisions with the ATLAS Detector

A search for magnetic monopoles and high-electric-charge objects is presented using 34.4  fb^{-1} of 13 TeV pp collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015 and 2016. The considered signature is based upon high ionization in the transition radiation tracker of the inner detector associated with a pencil-shape energy deposit in the electromagnetic calorimeter. The data were collected by a dedicated trigger based on the tracker high-threshold hit capability. The results are interpreted in models of Drell-Yan pair production of stable particles with two spin hypotheses (0 and 1/2) and masses ranging from 200 to 4000 GeV. The search improves by approximately a factor of 5 the constraints on the direct production of magnetic monopoles carrying one or two Dirac magnetic charges and stable objects with electric charge in the range 20≤|z|≤60 and extends the charge range to 60<|z|≤100.

Monopole-antimonopole pair production by magnetic fields

Quantum electrodynamics predicts that in a strong electric field, electron-positron pairs are produced by the Schwinger process, which can be interpreted as quantum tunnelling through the Coulomb potential barrier. If magnetic monopoles exist, monopole-antimonopole pairs would be similarly produced in strong magnetic fields by the electromagnetic dual of this process. The production rate can be computed using semiclassical techniques without relying on perturbation theory, and therefore it can be done reliably in spite of the monopoles' strong coupling to the electromagnetic field. This article explains this phenomenon and discusses the bounds on monopole masses arising from the strongest magnetic fields in the universe, which are in neutron stars known as magnetars and in heavy ion collision experiments such as lead-lead collisions carried out in November 2018 in the large Hadron collider at CERN. It will also discuss open theoretical questions affecting the calculation. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Topological avatars of new physics'.

Braiding and Fusion of Non-Abelian Vortex Anyons

We have studied topology and dynamics of quantum vortices in spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates. By computationally modeling controllable braiding and fusion of these vortices, we have demonstrated that certain vortices in such spinor condensates behave as non-Abelian anyons. We identify these anyons as fluxon, chargeon, and dyon quasiparticles. The pertinent anyon models are defined by the quantum double of the underlying discrete non-Abelian symmetry group of the condensate ground state order parameter.

Magnetic Monopole Mass Bounds from Heavy-Ion Collisions and Neutron Stars

Magnetic monopoles, if they exist, would be produced amply in strong magnetic fields and high temperatures via the thermal Schwinger process. Such circumstances arise in heavy-ion collisions and in neutron stars, both of which imply lower bounds on the mass of possible magnetic monopoles. In showing this, we construct the cross section for pair production of magnetic monopoles in heavy-ion collisions, which indicates that they are particularly promising for experimental searches such as MoEDAL.

Electroweak symmetry breaking from monopole condensation

We argue that the electroweak symmetry of the standard model (SM) could be broken via condensation of magnetic monopole bilinears. We present an extension of the SM where this could indeed happen, and where the heavy top mass is also a consequence of the magnetic interactions.

Anisotropic spin system, quantized Dirac monopole and the Berry phase

The Berry phase, acquired by an anisotropic spin system with spinJ≥1 when it is adiabatically rotated in a closed circuit, is considered to be associated with a non-quantized Dirac monopole, and has a geometrical as well as a topological component owing to the Dirac string. Here, it is argued that the Berry phase of a spin state withJ≥1 can be associated with a quantized Dirac monopole when the corresponding spin is taken to be an entangled state of a composite system of 1/2 spins. Evidently, this avoids the contribution of the Dirac string, and the Berry phase is purely geometrical in nature.

Search for Magnetic Monopoles in the Lunar Sample

An electromagnetic search for magnetic monopoles of the minimum size predicted by Dirac, or of any larger magnitude, has been performed on 8.37 kilograms of lunar surface material. No monopole was found. This experimnent sets new limists on the production cross section for monopoles and on their occurrence in cosmic radiation.