Two-Monopole Systems and the Formation of Non-Abelian Clouds

Abstract

We study the energy density of two distinct fundamental monopoles in SU(3) and Sp(4) theories with an arbitrary mass ratio. Several special limits of the general result are checked and verified. Based on the analytic expression of energy density the coefficient of the internal part of the moduli space metric is also computed, which gives it a nice "mechanical" interpretation. We then investigate the interaction energy density for both cases. By analyzing the contour of the zero interaction energy density we propose a detailed picture of what happens when one gets close to the massless limit. The study of the interaction energy density also sheds light on the formation of the non-Abelian cloud.