Massive Monopoles and Massless Monopole Clouds

Abstract

Magnetic monopole solutions naturally arise in the context of spontaneously broken gauge theories. When the unbroken symmetry includes a non-Abelian subgroup, investigation of the low-energy monopole dynamics by means of the moduli space approximation reveals degrees of freedom that can be attributed to massless monopoles. These do not correspond to distinct solitons, but instead are manifested as a cloud of non-Abelian field surrounding one or more massive monopoles. In these talks I explain how one is led to these solutions and then describe them in some detail.