1978/09/01 by Peter Goddard, D. Olive · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #Physics #Magnetic monopole #Gauge theory #Soliton #Dirac (video compression format) #Theoretical physics #Introduction to gauge theory #Gauge anomaly #Gauge (firearms) #Quantum electrodynamics #Space (punctuation) #Magnetic field #Quantum field theory #Supersymmetric gauge theory #Quantum mechanics #Mathematical physics #Nonlinear system
paper · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/41/9/001
openalex publication_date 1978/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
An account is given of the new insight into the theory of magnetic monopoles originating from the work of 't Hooft (1976) and Polyakov (1974). Their magnetic monopole, associated with the conventional electromagnetic gauge group U(1), occurs as a finite-energy smooth soliton solution to an SU(2) gauge theory. A precise picture of its internal structure, the values of its magnetic charge and its mass are obtained. These new developments bring together previously unrelated fields of study, namely the Dirac monopole (with point structure) and the Sine-Gordon soliton in two-dimensional space-time. Properties of more general monopoles, associated with large gauge groups now thought to be relevant in physics, are discussed. Based on this new viewpoint, conjectures can be made about a future quantum theory of monopoles.