A combined analysis technique for the search for fast magnetic monopoles with the MACRO detector

We describe a search method for fast moving (β=v/c>5×10^-3) magnetic monopoles using simultaneously the scintillator, streamer tube and track-etch subdetectors of the MACRO apparatus. The first two subdetectors are used primarily for the identification of candidates while the track-etch one is used as the final tool for their rejection or confirmation. Using this technique, a first sample of more than two years of data has been analyzed without any evidence of a magnetic monopole. We set a 90% CL upper limit to the local monopole flux of 1.5×10^-15 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1 in the velocity range 5×10^-3<=β<=0.99 and for nucleon decay catalysis cross-section smaller than /~1 mb