Physicists create synthetic magnetic monopole predicted more than 80 years ago

[phantom power]

This is a big fucking deal.

(Phys.org) —Nearly 85 years after pioneering theoretical physicist Paul Dirac predicted the possibility of their existence, an international collaboration led by Amherst College Physics Professor David S. Hall '91 and Aalto University (Finland) Academy Research Fellow Mikko Möttönen has created, identified and photographed synthetic magnetic monopoles in Hall's laboratory on the Amherst campus. The groundbreaking accomplishment paves the way for the detection of the particles in nature, which would be a revolutionary development comparable to the discovery of the electron.

A paper about this work co-authored by Hall, Möttönen, Amherst postdoctoral research associate Michael Ray, Saugat Kandel '12 and Finnish graduate student Emmi Ruokokski was published today in the journal Nature.

"The creation of a synthetic magnetic monopole should provide us with unprecedented insight into aspects of the natural magnetic monopole—if indeed it exists," said Hall, explaining the implications of his work.

Ray, the paper's lead author and first to sight the monopoles in the laboratory, agreed, noting: "This is an incredible discovery. To be able to confirm the work of one of the most famous physicists is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am proud and honored to have been part of this great collaborative effort."
Ordinarily, magnetic poles come in pairs: they have both a north pole and a south pole. As the name suggests, however, a magnetic monopole is a magnetic particle possessing only a single, isolated pole—a north pole without a south pole, or vice versa. In 1931, Dirac published a paper that explored the nature of these monopoles in the context of quantum mechanics. Despite extensive experimental searches since then, in everything from lunar samples—moon rock—to ancient fossilized minerals, no observation of a naturally-occurring magnetic monopole has yet been confirmed.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-01-physicists-synthetic-magnetic-monopole-years.html#jCp

[longship]

1. So much for Del Dot B equals zero.

When physical theories are thrown down, new physics and Nobel prizes are made.

That's what makes science such a wonderful enterprise.

Science is a very human form of knowledge. We are always at the brink of the known; we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. Every judgment in science stands on the edge of error and is personal. Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible.

Jacob Bronowski

[phantom power]

2. I assume they just made the Nobel short list for this.

People have been hunting monopoles for a long time.

[krispos42]

3. Does this have potential practical implications?

I ask because in some science-fiction, magnetic monopoles seem to be sought-after items, the kind of things wars are fought over.

[phantom power]

5. A monopole's magnetic field decreases more slowly with distance.

Inverse-square (like electric charge, or gravity) instead of inverse cube. So there is speculation that monopoles would make applications like fusion, or bussard ramscoops, more feasible.

More generally, Maxwell's equations are different if you take monopoles into account. I'm an E&M weenie, so I won't even guess what the implications are, but I assume they would be far reaching:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopole_magnet#In_Gaussian_cgs_units

[krispos42]

9. That's... huge

Knocking something down a power?

Holy shit. That's something big.

[Gothmog]

4. Thanks for sharing

This is very interesting

[siligut]

6. Here is the video

Anti-gravity here we come.

[TxDemChem]

7. This is exciting. I used to think monopoles were a possibility,

but this just blows my mind! Awesome. I'll read more on it tomorrow.

[struggle4progress]

8. Current reporting is still contradictory.