Dynamics of Gravitating Magnetic Monopoles

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates the dynamic behavior of gravitating magnetic monopoles beyond the critical Higgs vacuum expectation value, revealing expansion, collapse, or stable configurations depending on parameters.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed numerical analysis of monopole dynamics for large Higgs VEVs, showing diverse behaviors including exponential expansion and wormhole formation.

Findings

Large Higgs VEV causes monopole expansion and wormhole formation.

Near critical VEV, monopoles can expand, collapse, or stabilize.

Monopole behavior depends on coupling constants and initial conditions.

Abstract

According to previous work on magnetic monopoles, static regular solutions are nonexistent if the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field $\eta$ is larger than a critical value $\eta_{{\rm cr}}$, which is of the order of the Planck mass. In order to understand the properties of monopoles for $\eta>\eta_{{\rm cr}}$, we investigate their dynamics numerically. If $\eta$ is large enough ($\gg\eta_{{\rm cr}}$), a monopole expands exponentially and a wormhole structure appears around it, regardless of coupling constants and initial configuration. If $\eta$ is around $\eta_{{\rm cr}}$, there are three types of solutions, depending on coupling constants and initial configuration: a monopole either expands as stated above, collapses into a black hole, or comes to take a stable configuration.