Dirac Prediction
Paul Dirac demonstrates that magnetic monopoles would explain the quantization of electric charge. The theoretical system is born: g = nhc/2e. Every detection system that follows traces its purpose to this equation.
TheoryPrice Cosmic Ray Event
A balloon-borne nuclear track detector records a heavily ionizing cosmic ray consistent with a magnetic monopole. The infrastructure of balloon-borne detection is established, though the result remains contested.
DetectionCabrera SQUID Event
A superconducting quantum interference device at Stanford registers one Dirac quantum of magnetic charge. The SQUID system becomes the gold standard for monopole detection. The event is never replicated.
DetectionMACRO Detector
The Monopole, Astrophysics and Cosmic Ray Observatory begins operation at Gran Sasso. A building-sized system of scintillators, streamer tubes, and nuclear track detectors. It runs for over a decade, setting the most stringent flux limits.
InfrastructureSpin Ice Monopoles
Emergent magnetic monopoles are observed in spin ice materials. The simulation systems are validated: quasiparticle monopoles behave exactly as Dirac predicted. A new branch of condensed matter detection infrastructure emerges.
SimulationMoEDAL at CERN
The Monopole and Exotics Detector At the LHC is approved. Nuclear track detectors and aluminum trapping volumes surround the LHCb interaction point, watching for monopole production at 13.6 TeV.
InfrastructureDistributed Detection Network
A global array of SQUID magnetometers, connected by cloud infrastructure, monitors for cosmic monopole flux in real time. The system architecture spans four continents. Detection count remains at zero.
Infrastructure