New Limit on Magnetic Monopole Flux

Grand unified theories of strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions predict the existence of very massive magnetically charged particles. The magnetic monopole charge is a multiple of the Dirac charge, and the predicted monopole mass is 10 to the 16th GeV. The underground Soudan-1 nucleon decay...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 1983-02, Vol.50 (9), p.655-658
Main Authors: Bartelt, J., Courant, H., Heller, K., Joyce, T., Marshak, M., Peterson, E., Ruddick, K., Shupe, M., Ayres, D. S., Dawson, J. W., Fields, T. H., May, E. N., Price, L. E.
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Language:English
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Summary:Grand unified theories of strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions predict the existence of very massive magnetically charged particles. The magnetic monopole charge is a multiple of the Dirac charge, and the predicted monopole mass is 10 to the 16th GeV. The underground Soudan-1 nucleon decay experiment makes it possible to measure the velocities of slowly moving particles if they can be detected by ionization at a level 0.5 times that of a relativistic muon. If the velocities of the magnetic monopoles are greater than 0.001 c, the monopoles should satisfy the detection requirements. During a live time of 0.41 yr, no candidate for magnetic monopole was observed. The implied 90%-confidence-level limit on the flux of such objects is less than 4.1 x 10 to the -13th per (sq cm sr s) for velocities in the range from 0.001 c to 0.01 c.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.50.655