Dirac-Schwinger quantization for emergent magnetic monopoles?

In Refs. [1–4] Dirac and Schwinger showed the existence of a magnetic monopole required a charge quantization condition which we write following Dirac as eg4πħ=n2,n=0,±1,±2,…. Here, g is the magnetic monopole charge and e is the electric charge of the positron. Recently, in Refs. [5,6], it has been...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: A. Farhan, M. Saccone, B.F.L. Ward
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Physics Letters B
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325002576
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Summary:In Refs. [1–4] Dirac and Schwinger showed the existence of a magnetic monopole required a charge quantization condition which we write following Dirac as eg4πħ=n2,n=0,±1,±2,…. Here, g is the magnetic monopole charge and e is the electric charge of the positron. Recently, in Refs. [5,6], it has been shown experimentally that frustrated spin-ice systems exhibit ‘emergent’ magnetic monopoles. We show that, within the experimental errors, the respective magnetic charges obey the Dirac-Schwinger quantization condition. Possible implications are discussed.
ISSN:0370-2693