The Price of an Electroweak Monopole

TL;DR

This paper explores finite-energy electroweak monopole solutions within a generalized Standard Model framework, compatible with LHC Higgs decay data, and estimates their masses to assess detectability at current colliders.

Contribution

The authors develop monopole models consistent with experimental Higgs decay constraints and calculate their masses, suggesting potential LHC detectability.

Findings

Monopole mass could be less than 5.5 TeV.

Monopoles may be pair-produced at the LHC.

Models are compatible with Higgs decay measurements.

Abstract

In a recent paper, Cho, Kim and Yoon (CKY) have proposed a version of the SU(2) $\times$ U(1) Standard Model with finite-energy monopole and dyon solutions. The CKY model postulates that the effective U(1) gauge coupling $\to \infty$ very rapidly as the Englert-Brout-Higgs vacuum expectation value $\to 0$, but in a way that is incompatible with LHC measurements of the Higgs boson $H \to \gamma \gamma$ decay rate. We construct generalizations of the CKY model that are compatible with the $H \to \gamma \gamma$ constraint, and calculate the corresponding values of the monopole and dyon masses. We find that the monopole mass could be $< 5.5$ TeV, so that it could be pair-produced at the LHC and accessible to the MoEDAL experiment.