Charged Particle Motion in Spherically Symmetric Distributions of Magnetic Monopoles

Abstract

The classical equations of motion of a charged particle in a spherically symmetric distribution of magnetic monopoles can be transformed into a system of linear equations, thereby providing a type of integrability. In the case of a single monopole, the solution was given long ago by Poincar\'e. In the case of a uniform distribution of monopoles the solution can be expressed in terms of parabolic cylinder functions (essentially the eigenfunctions of an inverted harmonic oscillator). This solution is relevant to recent studies of nonassociative star products, symplectic lifts of twisted Poisson structures and fluids and plasmas of electric and magnetic charges.