# Monopole-antimonopole bound states as a source of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

## I Introduction

The observation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with energies above $`10^{11}\text{GeV}`$ poses a serious challenge to the particle acceleration mechanisms so far proposed. This fact has motivated the search for non-acceleration models, in which the high energy cosmic rays are produced by the decay of a very heavy particle. Topological defects are attractive candidates for this scenario. Due to their topological stability these objects can retain their energy for very long times and release quanta of their constituents, typically with GUT scale masses, which in turn decay to produce the UHECR.

Various topological defect models and mechanisms have been studied by numerous authors. In this paper we investigate two different scenarios involving the annihilation of monopole-antimonopole pairs. We first discuss standard magnetic monopole pair annihilation , paying particular attention to the kinetics of monopolonium formation. We find that, due to the inefficiency of the pairing process, the density of monopolonium states formed is many orders of magnitude less than the value required to explain the UHECR events.

We then present a different scenario in which very massive monopoles ($`m10^{14}\text{GeV}`$) are bound by a light string formed at approximately $`100\text{GeV}`$. These monopoles do not have the usual magnetic charge, or in fact any unconfined flux. Gravitational radiation is the only significant energy-loss mechanism for the bound systems.Such systems were studied in a different context by Martin and Vilenkin. Their lifetimes can then be comparable with the age of the universe, and their final annihilation will then contribute to the high energy end of the cosmic ray spectrum.

## II Required monopolonium abundance.

What density of decaying monopolonium states is required to produce the observed cosmic rays? The monopolonium will behave as a cold dark matter (CDM) component and will cluster in the galactic halo, producing a high energy spectrum of cosmic rays without the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff. Since the observational data does not seem to show any such cutoff, this is an advantage of such topological defect models .

For a given monopole mass, we can set the lifetime of the monopolonium at least equal to the age of the universe, and obtain the required density of monopolonium in the halo by normalizing the flux to the observed high energy spectrum. The required number density decreases with the monopole mass, so as a lower limit we can take the required density corresponding to $`m_M=10^{17}\text{GeV}`$,

$$N_{M\overline{M}}^h(T_0)>6\times 10^{27}\text{cm}^3.$$
(1)   
Since the different components of the CDM cluster in the same way we can use this halo density to get the mean density in the universe, by computing,

$$N_{M\overline{M}}=\frac{N_{M\overline{M}}^h\mathrm{\Omega }_{CDM}\rho _{cr}}{\rho _{CDM}^h}.$$
(2)   
For $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{CDM}h^2=0.2`$, $`\rho _{CDM}^h=0.3\text{GeV}`$ $`\text{cm}^3`$, and $`\rho _{\text{cr}}=10^4h^2\text{eV cm}^3`$, we get

$$N_{M\overline{M}}(T_0)>10^{32}\text{cm}^3.$$
(3)   
We will work with a comoving monopolonium density $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=N_{M\overline{M}}/s`$ where $`s`$ is the entropy density, currently $`s3\times 10^3\text{cm}^3`$, so that we require

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }>10^{35}$$
(4)   
to explain the observed UHECR.

## III Magnetic monopole states

### A Introduction

Monopolonium states are expected to have been formed by radiative capture if there was a non-zero density of free monopoles in the early universe. They will typically be bound in an orbit with a large quantum number, so we can treat them as classical objects emitting electromagnetic radiation as they spiral down to deeper and deeper orbits, until they annihilate in a final burst of very high energy particles.

The electromagnetic decay of monopolonium was analyzed by Hill using the dipole radiation formula. The rate of energy loss is<sup>§</sup><sup>§</sup>§Here and throughout we use units where $`\mathrm{}=c=k_B=1`$.

$$\frac{dE}{dt}=\frac{64E^4}{3g_M^2m_M^2},$$
(5)   
where $`g_M`$ is the magnetic charge. From this expression, the lifetime of monopolonium with radius $`r`$ and binding energy $`E=g_M^2/2r`$ is

$$\tau _E\frac{m_M^2r^3}{8g_M^4}.$$
(6)   
For $`m_M=10^{16}\text{GeV}`$, $`g_M=1/(2e)\sqrt{34}`$, and an initial radius of $`r=10^9\text{cm}`$, this gives $`\tau _E10^{18}\text{sec}`$, comparable to the age of the universe.

Bhattacharjee and Sigl used a thermodynamic equilibrium approximation to estimate the monopolonium density and argued that the late annihilation of very massive magnetic monopoles could explain the UHECR events observed. Here we recalculate the density of monopolonium states, taking into account the kinematics of formation and the frictional energy loss of monopolonium formed at early times.

### B Friction

Before electron-positron annihilation, monopoles interact with a background of relativistic charged particles. These interactions produce a force which, for a non-relativistic monopole is given by 

$$F=\frac{\pi }{18}N_cT^2v_{b_{\text{min}}}^{b_{\text{max}}}\frac{db}{b}$$
(7)   
where $`N_c`$ is the number of species of charged particles, $`v`$ the velocity of the monopole with respect to the background gas of charged particles and $`b`$ the impact parameter of the incident particles. Since we are interested in the friction that a monopole feels in a bound state orbit of monopolonium, we will not consider the interaction of charged particles with impact parameter greater than the radius of the monopolonium, so $`b_{\text{max}}g_M^2E^1`$. Initially, the monopoles are bound with energy $`ET`$, so $`b_{\text{max}}g_M^2T^1`$. Equation (7) is derived using the approximation that each charged particle is only slightly deflected. This approximation breaks down for impact parameters that are too small, so we should cut off our integration at  $`b_{min}T^1`$. Using $`N_c=2`$ and $`g_M^234`$, we get

$$F1.22T^2v$$
(8)   
so the energy loss rate due to interactions with charged particles in the background is

$$\frac{dE}{dt}1.22T^2v^2.$$
(9)   
Taking the system to be bound in a circular orbit, we have

$$m_Mv^2E$$
(10)   
so we can write

$$\frac{dE}{dt}1.22T^2\frac{E}{m_M}$$
(11)   
The time scale for this process is

$$\tau _F=\frac{E}{dE/dt}\frac{m_M}{1.22T^2}$$
(12)   
If we compare it with the Hubble time,

$$\tau _H=\sqrt{\frac{90}{8\pi ^3g_{}}}m_{pl}T^20.184m_{pl}T^2,$$
(13)   
where $`m_{pl}`$ is the Planck mass, and $`g_{}`$ is the number of effectively massless degrees of freedom, $`g_{}=10.75`$, we get

$$\frac{\tau _F}{\tau _H}0.15\frac{m_M}{m_{pl}}1.$$
(14)   
Thus, we see that the damping of the monopolonium energy due to friction is very effective in this regime, and the monopoles spiral down very quickly.

When the distance between monopoles becomes small as compared to $`T^1`$, the effect of friction is reduced and Eq. (7) is no longer accurate. However, even for $`T=1\text{MeV}`$, the radius has been reduced about two orders of magnitude to $`r2\times 10^{11}\text{cm}`$, and the electromagnetic lifetime has been reduced by about six orders of magnitude. Thus only monopolonium states formed after electron-positive annihilation can live to decay in the present era.

After electron-positron annihilation the number of charged particles in the thermal background has decreased by a factor $`10^9`$ so $`\tau _F/\tau _H1`$ and the monopolonium is little affected by friction.

### C Formation rate

We can obtain an upper limit for the monopolonium density by solving the Boltzmann equation,

$$\frac{dN_{M\overline{M}}}{dt}=\sigma _bvn_M^23HN_{M\overline{M}},$$
(15)   
where $`n_M`$ denotes the free monopole density, $`N_{M\overline{M}}`$ the monopolonium density, $`H`$ the Hubble constant, and $`\sigma _bv`$ the average product of the binding cross section times the thermal velocity of the monopoles.

With the comoving monopole density $`\gamma =n_M/s`$, we can rewrite the equation above as

$$\frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{dt}=\sigma _bv\gamma n_M=\sigma _bv\gamma ^2s.$$
(16)   
Using the approximation for the classical radiative capture cross section of monopoles with thermal velocities given by ,

$$\sigma _bv\frac{\pi ^{7/5}}{2}\frac{g_{M}^{}{}_{}{}^{4}}{m_{M}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}\left(\frac{m_M}{T}\right)^{9/10},$$
(17)   
and with

$$s=\frac{2\pi ^2}{45}g_ST^3,$$
(18)   
where $`g_S`$ is the number of degrees of freedom contributing to the entropy, we get

$$\frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{dt}=\frac{\pi ^{17/5}}{45}\frac{g_M^4\gamma ^2}{m_M^2}\left(\frac{m_M}{T}\right)^{9/10}g_ST^3.$$
(19)   
Since we are interested in the evolution of the monopolonium density after electron-positron annihilation, we will take a constant value $`g_S3.91`$ to get

$$\frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{dt}4.25\frac{g_M^4\gamma ^2}{m_M^2}\left(\frac{m_M}{T}\right)^{9/10}T^3.$$
(20)   
As we will see, only a tiny fraction of the monopoles will ever be bound, so we can consider the comoving number of monopoles $`\gamma `$ to be constant. To integrate Eq (20), we will make a change of variable

$$t=\sqrt{\frac{90}{32\pi ^3g_{}}}m_{pl}T^20.164m_{pl}T^2,$$
(21)   
appropriate to times after electron-positron annihilation, to get

$$\frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{dT}1.34\frac{g_M^4m_{pl}\gamma ^2}{m_M^2}\left(\frac{m_M}{T}\right)^{9/10}.$$
(22)   
and thus

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_f13.4g_M^4\left(\frac{m_{pl}}{m_M}\right)\left(\frac{T_i}{m_M}\right)^{1/10}\gamma ^2.$$
(23)   
We now take $`T_i1\text{MeV}`$ and $`g_M^2=34`$, and note that to produce the observed UHECR, we must have $`m_M>10^{11}\text{GeV}`$, so that for a fixed monopole comoving density $`\gamma `$, we have the bound,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_f<4\times 10^6\gamma ^2.$$
(24)   
### D Monopole density bound

The formation of magnetic monopoles via the Kibble mechanism is inevitable in all GUT models of the early universe, and annihilation mechanisms are not efficient in a rapidly expanding background, so that the typical initial density of monopoles produced at a GUT phase transition will very soon dominate the energy density of the universe. The most attractive solution for this problem is the inflationary scenario. In standard inflation, the exponential expansion of the universe reduces the monopole density to a completely negligible value. However, it is possible for new monopoles to be formed at the end of inflation. The exact relic abundance of monopoles created in this period is very model dependent, but its value is constrained by the Parker limit : To prevent the acceleration of monopoles from eliminating the galactic magnetic field, the monopole flux into the galaxy must be limited by

$$F<10^{16}\text{cm}^2\text{s}^1\text{sr}^1.$$
(25)   
Assuming a monopole velocity with respect to the galaxy of $`10^3c`$, we can translate this bound into a limit on the monopole density,

$$n_M<10^{23}\text{cm}^3,$$
(26)   
and thus $`\gamma <10^{26}`$.Then, from Eq. (24) we have

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_f<10^{45}.$$
(27)   
Since this conflicts with Eq. (4) by 10 orders of magnitude, we conclude that primordial bound states of magnetic monopoles cannot explain the UHECR.

We note that we have used several approximations which overstate the possible value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_f`$: First, we have considered the total classical radiative capture cross section. This takes into account not only the monopolonium formed with the right energy to decay at present, but all the possible binding energies, clearly overestimating the value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_f`$. Second, it has been argued that the classical cross section given in Eq (17) overestimates its real value due to photon discreteness effects. Finally, some of the monopolonium will have decayed before the present time, reducing the value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. All of these effects make the conflict above more serious.

## IV Monopoles connected by strings.

We present now a different scenario for the formation and annihilation of monopole-antimonopole bound states. The main problem in explaining the UHECR by the conventional magnetic monopolonium system is the inefficiency of the binding mechanism. This can be solved if we assume that all the monopoles get connected by strings in a later phase transition. Since the U(1) symmetry of the monopoles would be broken by the second phase transition, this U(1) must be a field other than the usual electromagnetism.This is different from the Langacker-Pi scenario, where electromagnetism is broken and then restored at a lower temperature, and monopoles do feel large frictional forces. We furthermore assume that these monopoles will not have any other unconfined charge, so that they will feel almost no frictional force moving in a background of particles.

We take the comoving density of bound monopole systems $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to be constant. With a monopole mass of $`10^{14}\text{GeV}`$ the calculation of Sec. II gives $`\mathrm{\Gamma }10^{33}`$, and with all monopoles bound, $`\gamma =2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The proper density at the time of string formation is then

$$n_M(T_s)=\gamma s=\frac{2\pi ^2}{45}g_ST_s^3\gamma 10^{32}T_s^3.$$
(28)   
We can then compute the mean separation between monopoles at the time the string is formed,

$$L_i\left[n_M(T_s)\right]^{1/3}.$$
(29)   
If we take $`T100\text{GeV}`$, we obtain

$$L_i10^6\text{cm},$$
(30)   
which is much smaller than the horizon distance, $`d_H3`$ cm at $`T100\text{GeV}`$. We will assume that there are no light ($`mT_s`$ or less) particles that are charged under the string flux. This means that there will be no charged particles that interact with the monopoles and cause the system to lose energy, so that gravitational radiation will be the only energy loss mechanism. When the strings are formed they may have excitations on scales smaller than the distance between monopoles, but these will be quickly smoothed out by gravitational radiation, leaving a straight string. The energy stored in the string is then $`\mu L_i`$, where $`\mu T_{s}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$ is the energy per unit length of the string. This is smaller than the monopole mass by the ratio

$$\frac{\mu L_i}{m_M}10^2$$
(31)   
so the monopoles will move non-relativistically.

In order to estimate the radiation rate we can assume that the monopoles are moving in straight lines. In fact, at the time of string formation the monopoles will have thermal velocities, so that in general the system will be formed with some non-zero angular momentum. However, in general this will be small compared to the linear motion due to the string tension, so we will ignore it, except to note that the monopoles will pass by without collision. The half oscillation of one monopole is parameterized by

$$x(t)=(2aL)^{1/2}t\frac{1}{2}at^2$$
(32)   
with $`a=\mu /m_M`$ and $`0<t<(8L/a)^{1/2}`$. Using the quadrupole approximation,The fully relativistic situation was considered in . the rate of energy loss of the system is

$$\frac{dE}{dt}=\frac{288}{45}G\mu ^2\left(\frac{\mu L}{m_M}\right)$$
(33)   
Since $`\mu L`$ is the energy in the string, we can integrate this equation to obtain

$$L=L_ie^{t/\tau _g}$$
(34)   
with

$$\tau _g=\frac{45}{288}\frac{m_M}{G\mu ^2}=\frac{45}{288}\frac{m_{pl}^2m_M}{T_s^4}.$$
(35)   
The lifetime of the state will thus be $`\tau _g\mathrm{ln}(L_i/r_M)`$, where $`r_Mm_M^1`$ is the radius of the monopole core. For $`T100\text{GeV}`$ and $`m_M10^{14}\text{GeV}`$, Eq. (35) gives $`\tau _g10^{17}\text{sec}`$, comparable with the age of the universe.

This suggests that the bound system formed by a monopole-antimonopole pair connected by a string can slowly decay gravitationally, and release the energy stored in the monopole in a final annihilation when the two monopole cores become close enough.

## V Conclusions

We have shown that is not possible to construct a consistent model for the origin of the UHECR based on the electromagnetic decay and final annihilation of magnetic monopole-antimonopole bound states formed in the early universe. We have obtained an upper limit for the monopolonium density today, taking into account its enhancement in the galactic halo and the maximum average free monopole density consistent with the Parker limit. Due to the small radiative capture cross section for the monopoles and the rapid expansion of the universe, the maximum density of monopolonium is many orders of magnitude below the concentration required to explain the highest energy cosmic ray events.

We then proposed a different scenario in which the monopoles are connected by strings that form at a relatively low energy. This mechanism solves the problem of the inefficiency of the binding process, since every monopole will be attached to an antimonopole at the other end of the string. Due to the confinement of the monopole flux inside of the string , the main source of energy lose for these bound systems will be gravitational radiation. If we assume a monopole mass of $`10^{14}\text{GeV}`$ and a string energy scale of the order of $`100\text{GeV}`$, the lifetime of the bound states would be comparable with the age of the universe, making them a possible candidate for the origin of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

## VI Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Alex Vilenkin for suggesting this line of work, and Xavier Siemens and Alex Vilenkin for helpful conversations. This work was supported in part by funding provided by the National Science Foundation. J. J. B. P. is supported in part by the Fundación Pedro Barrie de la Maza.