Variations on the Dirac string

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new variant of Dirac's string concept in monopole theory, enabling analysis of monopole electrodynamics without dual potentials, and offers practical applications of this approach.

Contribution

It presents a novel variant of the Dirac string motivated by a formal expansion of the Bianchi identity, simplifying monopole analysis.

Findings

New Dirac string variant derived from Bianchi identity expansion

Application to monopole electrodynamics without dual potential

Potential for simplified monopole field analysis

Abstract

Dirac's original solution of the nontrivial Bianchi identity for magnetic monopoles [Dirac 1948], which redefines the fieldstrength along the Dirac string, diagonalizes the gauge and monopole degrees of freedom. We provide a variant of the Dirac string, which we motivate through a formal expansion of the Bianchi identity. We show how to use our variant prescription to study monopole electrodynamics without reference to a dual potential and provide some applications.