Magnetic monopoles in spin ice

C. Castelnovo (), R. Moessner and S. L. Sondhi
Additional contact information
C. Castelnovo: Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Oxford University
R. Moessner: Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Oxford University
S. L. Sondhi: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 451, issue 7174, 42-45

Abstract: Poles apart We are familiar with elementary particles that carry either negative or positive electric charge, such as electrons and protons, but there is no evidence of elementary particles with a net magnetic charge. Magnets tend to come with inseparable north and south poles, and there are no known magnetic monopoles despite concerted efforts to find them. But an intriguing theoretical study now proposes that magnetic monopoles may exist, not as elementary particles, but as emergent particles in exotic condensed matter magnetic systems such as 'spin ice'. The theory, based on an analogy to fractional electric charges seen, for example, in quantum Hall systems in two dimensions, can explain a mysterious phase transition that has been observed experimentally in spin ice. The cover, by Alessandro Canossa, depicts a magnetic monopole (red sphere) emerging from break-up of the dipole moment (arrows) of the underlying electronic degrees of freedom in spin ice.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06433

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