Ponente
Descripción
Magnetic monopoles are a long-sought prediction of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs), yet their efficient production in the early universe would lead to a monopole abundance that far exceeds observational limits—a challenge known as the cosmological monopole problem. The standard resolution invokes inflation occurring after monopole production, diluting their density to undetectable levels and eliminating any possibility of present-day observation. In this talk, we propose an alternative solution based on a minimal breaking of conformal symmetry in the gauge kinetic sector, effective in the early universe before BBN. This mechanism enhances monopole annihilation, thereby reducing their abundance to acceptable levels without requiring inflation. This scenario predicts a residual monopole flux potentially within the sensitivity of current and upcoming cosmic ray detectors, opening new avenues for their discovery.
