Numerical Evidence for Thermally Induced Monopoles

TL;DR

This paper presents numerical simulations demonstrating that heated or cooled colloidal particles in certain solvents exhibit field patterns akin to magnetic or electric monopoles, providing evidence for thermally induced monopole-like behavior.

Contribution

The study provides the first numerical evidence that thermally manipulated colloids can mimic magnetic and electric monopoles, aligning with non-equilibrium thermodynamics and Maxwell's equations.

Findings

Field distribution matches theoretical monopole predictions

Colloids behave as monopoles in field patterns but not in force response

Numerical evidence supports thermally induced monopole-like phenomena

Abstract

Electrical charges are conserved. The same would be expected to hold for magnetic charges, yet magnetic monopoles have never been observed. It is therefore surprising that the laws of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, combined with Maxwell's equations, suggest that colloidal particles heated or cooled in certain polar or paramagnetic solvents may behave as if they carry an electrical/magnetic charge [J. Phys. Chem. B $\textbf{120}$, 5987 (2016)]. Here we present numerical simulations that show that the field distribution around a pair of such heated/cooled colloidal particles agrees quantitatively with the theoretical predictions for a pair of oppositely charged electrical or magnetic monopoles. However, in other respects, the non-equilibrium colloids do not behave as monopoles: they cannot be moved by a homogeneous applied field. The numerical evidence for the monopole-like fields around heated/cooled colloids is crucial because the experimental and numerical determination of forces between such colloids would be complicated by the presence of other effects, such as thermophoresis.