Dirac monopoles and dipoles in ferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper explores the creation and dynamics of Dirac monopoles and dipoles in ferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensates, demonstrating their potential observability in experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a method to realize and simulate Dirac monopoles and dipoles in spinor BECs, linking topological defects with observable quantum textures.

Findings

Monopole-antimonopole pairs form vortex lines with free ends.

Simulations show these structures are observable under realistic conditions.

Nonsingular textures can be achieved through relaxation processes.

Abstract

We investigate a radial spin hedgehog, analogous to the Dirac monopole, in an optically trapped atomic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. By joining together a monopole-antimonopole pair, we may form a vortex line with free ends. We numerically simulate the three-dimensional dynamics and imaginary time relaxation of these structures to nonsingular textures and show they can be observable for realistic experimental parameters.