Search for Direc Magnetic Monopoles in e+e- Collisions with the OPAL Detector at LEP2

Abstract

This letter describes a direct search for pair produced magnetic monopoles in e+e- collisions. The analysis is based on 62.7 pb^-1 of data collected with the OPAL detector at an average centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)= 206.3GeV. The monopole signal was assumed to be characterized by two back-to-back particles with an anomalously high ionization energy loss de/dx in the tracking chambers. No evidence for production of monopoles was observed. Upper limits were obtained on the magnetic monopole pair-production cross-section (sigma) in the mass range 45 GeV/c^2<m_M<102 GeV/c^2. The average limit is sigma < 0.05 pb and is essentially independent of the magnetic monopole mass. The cross-section limit is derived at the 95% confidence level and is valid for spin-1/2 magnetic monopoles.