TITLE:  “Magnetic Monopoles: Cosmic Consequences to Close Encounters”

SPEAKER:  Maximilian Bachmaier ( EHU )

ABSTRACT:  After the discovery of the magnetic monopole solution by ’t Hooft and Polyakov in 1974, two communities became particularly interested in these objects. On the one hand, high-energy physicists study monopoles because they are predicted by grand unified theories, which may have played a relevant role in the early Universe. On the other hand, mathematicians and mathematical physicists are interested in their rich topological structure, which results in non-trivial collision dynamics. In this talk, I will connect these two research directions through our recent numerical simulations, revisiting longstanding predictions and exploring regimes beyond their original approximations. The first part addresses the magnetic monopole problem: grand unified theories can lead to an abundance of monopoles so large that it would dramatically influence the evolution of the Universe. I will discuss some solutions, focusing in particular on magnetic monopoles connected by cosmic strings and their potential signatures in gravitational radiation. The second part is about monopole collisions. I will introduce the predictions of the moduli-space approximation and present our recent numerical results, showing how they test these predictions and extend beyond the original approximations.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 7th, 2026

TIME: 11:40 am

LOCATION: Theoretical Physics Seminar Room