Seeing the magnetic monopole through the mirror of topological surface states

TL;DR

This paper proposes that electric charges near topological surface states induce detectable image magnetic monopoles via the topological magneto-electric effect, enabling experimental exploration of magnetic monopoles and fractional statistics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the induction of image magnetic monopoles by electric charges on topological surfaces and suggests experimental methods to detect and utilize these monopoles.

Findings

Magnetic monopoles can be induced by electric charges near topological surfaces.

The magnetic field from the image monopole follows an inverse square law.

Potential for realizing a gas of fractional-statistics quantum particles.

Abstract

Existence of the magnetic monopole is compatible with the fundamental laws of nature, however, this illusive particle has yet to be detected experimentally. In this work, we show that an electric charge near the topological surface state induces an image magnetic monopole charge due to the topological magneto-electric effect. The magnetic field generated by the image magnetic monopole can be experimentally measured, and the inverse square law of the field dependence can be determined quantitatively. We propose that this effect can be used to experimentally realize a gas of quantum particles carrying fractional statistics, consisting of the bound states of the electric charge and the image magnetic monopole charge.