Electromagnetism – Exploring the Relationship Between Magnetic Monopoles and Special Relativity

electromagnetismmagnetic fieldsmagnetic-monopolesspecial-relativity

I was thinking about magnetism as a product of special relativity and the result of this approach to the magnetic monopoles.
So if magnetism is a product of electricity(like electricity from another point of view),then why do we need monopoles to exist?I know that many theories predict the existence magnetic monopoles but i am referring specifically to the concept of classical relativistic magnetism and magnetic monopoles,so do not give me answers that are mainly based on what other theories predict.

EDIT: why do we need electric AND magnetic monopoles to describe electromagnetism if the two are the same thing from another moving frame of reference?And if we do not NEED magnetic monopoles,why is there even a place for them to exist in relativistic electromagnetism?

EDIT: I know that the mathematics of the theory allow for magnetic monopoles, but the essence of the question is the following:
If I work from one frame of reference and change to any other frame of reference, there are no sources of magnetism that can be related to magnetic monopoles?

Best Answer

The mathematical model for classical electromagnetism just doesn't forbid magnetic monopoles by construction.

Consider an arbitrary vector field $X$ in 3d. Such a vector field is totally characterized by its divergence and curl. Suppose the following is true:

$$\nabla \cdot X = \sigma, \quad \nabla \times X = Y$$

Then knowing $\sigma$ and $Y$ everywhere, one can reconstruct $X$ everywhere. The scalar field $\sigma$ and the vector field $Y$ are "sources" of $X$. That's important: it means that one only has so much freedom to add sources for a vector field.

Magnetic monopoles are one such freedom. In the context of EM, we know $\nabla \cdot B = 0$ from observations, but we still model $B$ as a vector field, and people still wonder what would happen if $B$ had nonzero divergence instead (corresponding to a magnetic monopole). This is something the math allows even though it might not be physical reality.

Such issues are very common in physics, though it's something of a matter of point of view. Why should we consider $B$ not being divergenceless, instead of, say, $B$ not being exactly a vector field? There's no real answer to that--it's just that physicists routinely must poke at the boundaries of a model to see if there's a prediction that might not hold, to see if there's a measurement or experimental result that could be confirmed more precisely.

Magnetic monopoles are just relatively easy to add to the theory.

Related Question