1999/04/22 by José J. Blanco-Pillado, J. J. Blanco-Pillado, Ken D. Olum · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.60.083001
published as Phys.Rev. D60 (1999) 083001 · 10 pages, RevTeX, no figures
arxiv created 1999/04/22 · openalex publication_date 1999/09/24 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The electromagnetic decay and final annihilation of magnetic monopole-antimonopole pairs formed in the early universe has been proposed as a possible mechanism to produce the highest energy cosmic rays. We show that for a monopole abundance saturating the Parker limit, the density of magnetic monopolonium formed is many orders of magnitude less than that required to explain the observed cosmic ray flux. We then propose a different scenario in which the monopoles and antimonopoles are connected by strings formed at a low energy phase transition (\ensuremath∼100 GeV). The bound states decay by gravitational radiation, with lifetimes comparable to the age of the Universe. This mechanism avoids the problems of the standard monopolonium scenario, since the binding of monopoles and antimonopoles is perfectly efficient.