These lecture notes discusses the developments both in the theoretical understanding of the physics and mathematics of magnetic monopoles as well as the ways in which they can be detected experimentally.The subject has now become highly interdisciplinary and recent monopole meetings have attracted participants from low temperature physics at one extreme to cosmology at the other.

These lecture notes discusses the developments both in the theoretical understanding of the physics and mathematics of magnetic monopoles as well as the ways in which they can be detected experimentally.The subject has now become highly interdisciplinary and recent monopole meetings have attracted participants from low temperature physics at one extreme to cosmology at the other.

Surveys the monopole problem on a few different levels, from classical electrodynamics up to N=2 SUSY Yang-Mills theory. and presents a compact, `bird's eye view' on the entire set of problems related with very notion of monopole including actual stand of the problem, related historical remarks and comprehensive bibliography. Presents original results obtained by the author in collaboration with other researches are presented as well as it summarizes the present status of the theory of monopoles and provides an introduction to the field.

In 1269 Petrus Peregrinus observed lines of force around a lodestone and noted that they were concentrated at two points which he designated as the north and south poles of the magnet. Subsequent observation has confirmed that all magnetic objects have paired regions of' opposite polarity, that is, all magnets are dipoles. It is easy to conceive of an isolated pole, which J.J. Thomson did in 1904 when he set his famous problem of the motion of an electron in the field of a magnetic charge. In 1931 P.A.M. Dirac solved this problem quantum mechanically and showed that the existence of a single magnet pole anywhere in the universe could explain the mystery of charge quantization. By late 1981, theoretical interest in monopoles had reached the point where a meeting was organized at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. Many mathematical properties of monopoles were discussed at length but there was only a solitary account describing experiments. This imbalance did not so much reflect the meeting's venue as it indicated the relative theoretical and experimental effort at that point.

The book deals with formal aspects of electromagnetic theory from the classical, the semiclassical and the quantum viewpoints in essays written by internationally distinguished scholars from several countries. The fundamental basis of electromagnetic theory is examined in order to elucidate Maxwell's equations, identify problematic aspects as well as outstanding problems, suggest ways and means of overcoming the obstacles, and review existing literature.This book will be especially valuable for those who wish to go in depth, rather than simply use Maxwell's equations for the solution of engineering problems. Graduate students will find it rich in dissertation topics, and advanced researchers will relish the controversial and detailed arguments and models.

Topological Foundations of Electromagnetism seeks a fundamental understanding of the dynamics of electromagnetism; and marshals the evidence that in certain precisely defined topological conditions, electromagnetic theory (Maxwell''s theory) must be extended or generalized in order to provide an explanation and understanding of, until now, unusual electromagnetic phenomena. Key to this generalization is an understanding of the circumstances under which the so-called A potential fields have physical effects. Basic to the approach taken is that the topological composition of electromagnetic fields is the fundamental conditioner of the dynamics of these fields. The treatment of electromagnetism from, first, a topological perspective, continuing through group theory and gauge theory, to a differential calculus description is a major thread of the book. Suggestions for potential new technologies based on this new understanding and approach to conditional electromagnetism are also given. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Electromagnetic Phenomena Not Explained by Maxwell''s Equations260 (437 KB). Contents: Electromagnetic Phenomena Not Explained by Maxwell''s Equations; The Sagnac Effect: A Consequence of Conservation of Action Due to Gauge Field Global Conformal Invariance in a Multiply Joined Topology of Coherent Fields; Topological Approaches to Electromagnetism. Readership: Physicists; advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics; electrical engineers.