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SUMMARY:Dirac's Dream - the Continuing Quest for the Magnetic Monopole - P
 rofessor James Pinfold\, University of Alberta
DTSTART:20100428T150000Z
DTEND:20100428T160000Z
UID:TALK23884@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Leona Hope-Coles
DESCRIPTION:I will first quickly summarize the history of the Magnetic Mon
 opole leading to the quantum theory of magnetic charge that started with a
  1931 paper by Paul Dirac who showed that the existence of magnetic \nmono
 poles was consistent with Maxwell's equations only if electric charges are
  quantized.  Modern interest in the magnetic monopole stems from particle 
 theories\, notably the grand unification theory \nand superstring theories
 \, which predict their existence.  Also\, the “monopole problem” was o
 ne of the prime motivations for Guth’s inflationary model. Joseph Polchi
 nski\, a prominent string-theorist\, \ndescribed the existence of monopole
 s as "one of the safest bets that one can make about physics not yet seen"
 .\n\nNext I will briefly review the status of monopole searches\, includin
 g the induction experiments in 1975 and 1982 that produced candidate event
 s that were initially interpreted as monopoles\, as well as \npossible evi
 dence from cosmic rays experiments\, However\, Magnetic Monopole detection
  is still an open problem in experimental physics. In some models magnetic
  monopoles are unlikely to be observed\, \nbecause they are too massive to
  be created in particle accelerators and too rare in the universe to enter
  a particle detector.\n\nLast\, but not least I will discuss in more detai
 l the MoEDAL experiment - the latest accelerator experiment designed to se
 arch for direct production of magnetic monopoles or dyons (particles with 
 electric and magnetic charge) and other highly ionizing particles – such
  as heavy (pseudo-) stable particles with conventional electric charge -  
 at the LHC. The MoEDAL experiment employs nuclear track-etch detectors dep
 loyed in the VELO vertex region of the LHCb experiment.\n
LOCATION:Pippard Lecture Theatre\, Cavendish Laboratory
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