Youve probably heard of theHiggs boson.
In fact, we still havent spotted one, and not through lack of trying.
Its called the magnetic monopole, and it has a few unique properties that make it rather special.
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These are the somewhat arbitrary labels for the two opposing electric charges.
While we can find electric monopoles in the form of charged particles, we have never observed magnetic monopoles.
Instead, magnets exist only in the form of dipoles with a north and a south end.
Rather you get two new, smaller magnets, each with a north and south end.
Even if you split that magnet down into individual particles, you still get a magnetic dipole.
But one of these equations Gausss law for magnetism states that there are no magnetic monopoles.
The magnetism we observe on a day-to-day basis can all be attributed to the movement of electric charges.
This induces a magnetic field that wraps around the direction of the current.
The second cause of magnetism involves a property from quantum mechanics called spin.
a tiny bar magnet).
This means we can describe magnetic phenomena without the need for magnetic monopoles.
Rather, this just means that there are no magnetic monopoles anywhere that we haveobserved.
This quantization of electric charge is one of the requirements of quantum mechanics.
So Diracs work went towards showing that classical electromagnetism and quantum electrodynamics were compatible theories in this sense.
Finally, there are few physicists who can resist the beauty of symmetry in nature.
Of course, just because a theory has an appealing symmetry doesnt make it correct.
As a result, magnetic monopole enthusiasts have turned their sights to explaining why wehaventseen any monopoles.
Using theory, we can estimate the maximum possible mass for the magnetic monopole.
Just few and far between.
The trick is to find one.
