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Acharya B, Alexandre J, Benes P, Bergmann B, Bertolucci S, Bevan A, Branzas H, Burian P, Campbell M, Cho YM, de Montigny M, De Roeck A, Ellis JR, Sawy ME, Fairbairn M, Felea D, Frank M, Gould O, Hays J, Hirt AM, Ho DLJ, Hung PQ, Janecek J, Kalliokoski M, Korzenev A, Lacarrère DH, Leroy C, Levi G, Lionti A, Maulik A, Margiotta A, Mauri N, Mavromatos NE, Mermod P, Millward L, Mitsou VA, Ostrovskiy I, Ouimet PP, Papavassiliou J, Parker B, Patrizii L, Păvălaş GE, Pinfold JL, Popa LA, Popa V, Pozzato M, Pospisil S, Rajantie A, de Austri RR, Sahnoun Z, Sakellariadou M, Santra A, Sarkar S, Semenoff G, Shaa A, Sirri G, Sliwa K, Soluk R, Spurio M, Staelens M, Suk M, Tenti M, Togo V, Tuszyn'ski JA, Upreti A, Vento V, Vives O. Search for magnetic monopoles produced via the Schwinger mechanism. Nature 2022; 602:63-67. [PMID: 35110756 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04298-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Electrically charged particles can be created by the decay of strong enough electric fields, a phenomenon known as the Schwinger mechanism1. By electromagnetic duality, a sufficiently strong magnetic field would similarly produce magnetic monopoles, if they exist2. Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical fundamental particles that are predicted by several theories beyond the standard model3-7 but have never been experimentally detected. Searching for the existence of magnetic monopoles via the Schwinger mechanism has not yet been attempted, but it is advantageous, owing to the possibility of calculating its rate through semi-classical techniques without perturbation theory, as well as that the production of the magnetic monopoles should be enhanced by their finite size8,9 and strong coupling to photons2,10. Here we present a search for magnetic monopole production by the Schwinger mechanism in Pb-Pb heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, producing the strongest known magnetic fields in the current Universe11. It was conducted by the MoEDAL experiment, whose trapping detectors were exposed to 0.235 per nanobarn, or approximately 1.8 × 109, of Pb-Pb collisions with 5.02-teraelectronvolt center-of-mass energy per collision in November 2018. A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer scanned the trapping detectors of MoEDAL for the presence of magnetic charge, which would induce a persistent current in the SQUID. Magnetic monopoles with integer Dirac charges of 1, 2 and 3 and masses up to 75 gigaelectronvolts per speed of light squared were excluded by the analysis at the 95% confidence level. This provides a lower mass limit for finite-size magnetic monopoles from a collider search and greatly extends previous mass bounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Acharya
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - J Alexandre
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - P Benes
- IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - B Bergmann
- IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - A Bevan
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - H Branzas
- Institute of Space Science, Măgurele, Romania
| | - P Burian
- IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - M Campbell
- Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Y M Cho
- Center for Quantum Spacetime, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea
| | - M de Montigny
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - A De Roeck
- Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - J R Ellis
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK.,Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M El Sawy
- Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M Fairbairn
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - D Felea
- Institute of Space Science, Măgurele, Romania
| | - M Frank
- Department of Physics, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - O Gould
- University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.,Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J Hays
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - A M Hirt
- Department of Earth Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - D L-J Ho
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - P Q Hung
- Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - J Janecek
- IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - M Kalliokoski
- Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Korzenev
- Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - D H Lacarrère
- Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - C Leroy
- Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - G Levi
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - A Lionti
- Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - A Maulik
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - A Margiotta
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - N Mauri
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - N E Mavromatos
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - P Mermod
- Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - L Millward
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - V A Mitsou
- IFIC, Universitat de València, CSIC, Valencia, Spain
| | - I Ostrovskiy
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
| | - P-P Ouimet
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - B Parker
- Institute for Research in Schools, Canterbury, UK
| | - L Patrizii
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - G E Păvălaş
- Institute of Space Science, Măgurele, Romania
| | - J L Pinfold
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - L A Popa
- Institute of Space Science, Măgurele, Romania
| | - V Popa
- Institute of Space Science, Măgurele, Romania
| | - M Pozzato
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - S Pospisil
- IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - A Rajantie
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | | | - Z Sahnoun
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - M Sakellariadou
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - A Santra
- IFIC, Universitat de València, CSIC, Valencia, Spain
| | - S Sarkar
- Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - G Semenoff
- Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - A Shaa
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - G Sirri
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - K Sliwa
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - R Soluk
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - M Spurio
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - M Staelens
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - M Suk
- IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - V Togo
- INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - J A Tuszyn'ski
- Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - A Upreti
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
| | - V Vento
- IFIC, Universitat de València, CSIC, Valencia, Spain
| | - O Vives
- IFIC, Universitat de València, CSIC, Valencia, Spain
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Tan X, Zhang DW, Zheng W, Yang X, Song S, Han Z, Dong Y, Wang Z, Lan D, Yan H, Zhu SL, Yu Y. Experimental Observation of Tensor Monopoles with a Superconducting Qudit. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2021; 126:017702. [PMID: 33480777 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.126.017702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Monopoles play a center role in gauge theories and topological matter. There are two fundamental types of monopoles in physics: vector monopoles and tensor monopoles. Examples of vector monopoles include the Dirac monopole in three dimensions and Yang monopole in five dimensions, which have been extensively studied and observed in condensed matter or artificial systems. However, tensor monopoles are less studied, and their observation has not been reported. Here we experimentally construct a tunable spin-1 Hamiltonian to generate a tensor monopole and then measure its unique features with superconducting quantum circuits. The energy structure of a 4D Weyl-like Hamiltonian with threefold degenerate points acting as tensor monopoles is imaged. Through quantum-metric measurements, we report the first experiment that measures the Dixmier-Douady invariant, the topological charge of the tensor monopole. Moreover, we observe topological phase transitions characterized by the topological Dixmier-Douady invariant, rather than the Chern numbers as used for conventional monopoles in odd-dimensional spaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinsheng Tan
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Dan-Wei Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Frontier Research Institute for Physics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Wen Zheng
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Xiaopei Yang
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Shuqing Song
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Zhikun Han
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Yuqian Dong
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Zhimin Wang
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Dong Lan
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Hui Yan
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Frontier Research Institute for Physics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Shi-Liang Zhu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Frontier Research Institute for Physics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yang Yu
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
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