Gravitational analogues of magnetic monopoles from the path-dependent formalism
Abstract
The possibility of gravitational monopoles (i.e., particles acting as sources of the dual Riemannian tensor) is considered using Mandelstam's (1966) path-dependent formulation of the gravitational field. It is shown that in the path-dependent framework gravitational monopoles arise in a straightforward and natural manner from a consistency requirement of the theory and that their 'charge' is quantized according to a Dirac-like quantization condition, with electric charge replaced by spin. It is suggested that energy-momentum conservation must be violated in some way if gravitational monopoles exist, that the existence of such monopoles could account for the continuous creation of matter required by steady-state cosmology, and that gravitational monopoles might be involved in both the creation and destruction of particles, particularly in association with strong black holes.
- Publication:
-
Nuovo Cimento Lettere
- Pub Date:
- August 1978
- Bibcode:
- 1978NCimL..22..597M
- Keywords:
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- Field Theory (Physics);
- Gravitation Theory;
- Magnetic Monopoles;
- Mandelstam Representation;
- Relativity;
- Riemann Manifold;
- Tensors;
- Astrophysics