Scientists at Amherst College (USA) and Aalto University (Finland) have made the first experimental observations of the dynamics of isolated monopoles in quantum matter.
The new study provided a surprise: the quantum monopole decays into another analogue of the magnetic monopole. The obtained fundamental understanding of monopole dynamics may help in the future to build even closer analogues of the magnetic monopoles.
Unlike usual magnets, magnetic monopoles are elementary particles that have only a south or a north magnetic pole, but not both. They have been theoretically predicted to exist, but no convincing experimental observations have been reported. Thus physicists are busy looking for analogue objects.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-destruction-quantum-monopole.html#jCp
Scientists at Amherst College (USA) and Aalto University (Finland) have made the first experimental observations of the dynamics of isolated monopoles in quantum matter.
The new study provided a surprise: the quantum monopole decays into another analogue of the magnetic monopole. The obtained fundamental understanding of monopole dynamics may help in the future to build even closer analogues of the magnetic monopoles.
Unlike usual magnets, magnetic monopoles are elementary particles that have only a south or a north magnetic pole, but not both. They have been theoretically predicted to exist, but no convincing experimental observations have been reported. Thus physicists are busy looking for analogue objects.