Brane bending and monopole moduli

Abstract

We study intersecting brane systems that realize a class of singular monopole configurations in four-dimensional Yang-Mills-Higgs theory. Singular monopoles are solutions to the Bogomolny equation on R^3 with a prescribed number of singularities corresponding to the insertion of 't Hooft defects. We use the brane construction to motivate a recent conjecture on the conditions for which the moduli space of solutions is non-empty. We also show how branes provide physical intuition for various aspects of the dimension formula derived in {arXiv:1404.5616}, including the contribution to the dimension from the defects and its invariance under Weyl reflections of the 't Hooft charges. Along the way we uncover and illustrate new dynamical phenomena for the brane systems, including a description of smooth monopole extraction and bubbling from 't Hooft defects.