International Journal of Theoretical Physics

, Volume 34, Issue 1, pp 37–46 | Cite as

Magnetic charge as a “hidden” gauge symmetry

  • D. Singleton
Article
Received:

Abstract

A theory containing both electric and magnetic charges is formulated using two vectors potentials,Aμ andCμ. This has the aesthetic advantage of treating electric and magnetic charges both as gauge symmetries, but it has the experimental disadvantage of introducing a second massless gauge boson (the “magnetic” photon) which is not observed. This problem is dealt with by using the Higgs mechanism to give a mass to one of the gauge bosons while the other remains massless. This effectively “hides” the magnetic charge, and the symmetry associated with it, when one is at an energy scale far enough removed from the scale of the symmetry breaking.

Keywords

Field Theory Elementary Particle Quantum Field Theory Symmetry Breaking Gauge Boson 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Cabibbo, N., and Ferrari, E. (1962).Nuovo Cimento,23, 1147.Google Scholar
  2. Carmeli, M. (1982).Classical Fields: General Relativity and Gauge Theory, Wiley, New York, p. 590.Google Scholar
  3. Dirac, P. A. M. (1931).Proceedings of the Royal Society A,133, 60.Google Scholar
  4. Dirac, P. A. M. (1948).Physical Review,74, 817.Google Scholar
  5. Glashow, S. L. (1961).Nuclear Physics,22, 579.Google Scholar
  6. Goldhaber, A. S. (1976).Physical Review Letters,36, 1122.Google Scholar
  7. Goldstein, H. (1980).Classical Mechanics, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, p. 562.Google Scholar
  8. Higgs, P. W. (1964a).Physics Letters,12, 132.Google Scholar
  9. Higgs, P. W. (1964b).Physical Review Letters,13, 508.Google Scholar
  10. Higgs, P. W. (1966).Physical Review,145, 1156.Google Scholar
  11. Jackson, J. D. (1975).Classical Electrodynamics, 2nd ed., Wiley, New York, p. 251.Google Scholar
  12. Saha, M. N. (1936).Indian Journal of Physics,10, 145.Google Scholar
  13. Saha, M. N. (1949).Physical Review,75, 1968.Google Scholar
  14. Salam, A. (1968).Elementary Particle Theory: Relativistic Groups and Analyticity (Nobel Symposium, No. 8), N. Svatholm, ed., p. 367.Google Scholar
  15. Weinberg, S. (1967).Physical Review Letters,19, 1264.Google Scholar
  16. Wilson, H. A. (1949).Physical Review,75, 309.Google Scholar
  17. Wu, T. T., and Yang, C. N. (1975).Physical Review D,12, 3845.Google Scholar
  18. Zwanziger, D. (1971).Physical Review D,3, 880.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Plenum Publishing Corporation 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • D. Singleton
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PhysicsUniversity of VirginiaCharlottesville

Personalised recommendations