Abstract: We present a novel method for computing the nonperturbative kinetic term of the gluon propagator from an ordinary differential equation, whose derivation hinges on the central hypothesis that the regular part of the three-gluon vertex and the aforementioned kinetic term are related by a partial Slavnov-Taylor identity. The main ingredients entering in the solution are projection of the three-gluon vertex and a particular derivative of the ghost-gluon kernel, whose approximate form is derived from a Schwinger-Dyson equation. Crucially, the requirement of a pole-free answer determines the initial condition, whose value is calculated from an integral containing the same ingredients as the solution itself. This feature fixes uniquely, at least in principle, the form of the kinetic term, once the ingredients have been accurately evaluated. In practice, however, due to substantial uncertainties in the computation of the necessary inputs, certain crucial components need be adjusted by hand, in order to obtain self-consistent results. Furthermore, if the gluon propagator has been independently accessed from the lattice, the solution for the kinetic term facilitates the extraction of the momentum-dependent effective gluon mass. The practical implementation of this method is carried out in detail, and the required approximations and theoretical assumptions are duly highlighted.

Abstract: A search for highly electrically charged objects (HECOs) and magnetic monopoles is presented using 2.2 fb(-1) of p – p collision data taken at a centre of mass energy (E-CM) of 8 TeV by the MoEDAL detector during LHC's Run-1. The data were collected using MoEDAL's prototype Nuclear Track Detectord array and the Trapping Detector array. The results are interpreted in terms of Drell-Yan pair production of stable HECO and monopole pairs with three spin hypotheses (0, 1/2 and 1). The search provides constraints on the direct production of magnetic monopoles carrying one to four Dirac magnetic charges and with mass limits ranging from 590 GeV/c(2) to 1 TeV/c(2). Additionally, mass limits are placed on HECOs with charge in the range 10e to 180e, where e is the charge of an electron, for masses between 30 GeV/c(2) and 1 TeV/c(2).

Abstract: The correlation functions of Yang-Mills theories formulated in the background field method satisfy linear Slavnov-Taylor identities, which are naive generalizations of simple tree level relations, with no deformations originating from the ghost-sector of the theory. In recent years, a stronger version of these identities has been found to hold at the level of the background gluon self-energy, whose transversality is enforced separately for each special block of diagrams contributing to the gluon Schwinger-Dyson equation. In the present work we demonstrate by means of explicit calculations that the same distinct realization of the Slavnov-Taylor identity persists in the case of the background three-gluon vertex. The analysis is carried out at the level of the exact Schwinger-Dyson equation for this vertex, with no truncations or simplifying assumptions. The demonstration entails the contraction of individual vertex diagrams by the relevant momentum, which activates Slavnov-Taylor identities of vertices and multi-particle kernels nested inside these graphs; the final result emerges by virtue of a multitude of extensive cancellations, without the need of performing explicit integrations. In addition, we point out that background Ward identities amount to replacing derivatives of propagators by zero-momentum background-gluon insertions, in exact analogy to standard properties of Abelian gauge theories. Finally, certain potential applications of these results are briefly discussed.

Abstract: The implementation of the Schwinger mechanism endows gluons with a nonperturbative mass through the formation of special massless poles in the fundamental QCD vertices; due to their longitudinal character, these poles do not cause divergences in on-shell amplitudes, but induce detectable effects in the Green's functions of the theory. Particularly important in this theoretical setup is the three-gluon vertex, whose pole content extends beyond the minimal structure required for the generation of a gluon mass. In the present work we analyze these additional pole patterns by means of two distinct, but ultimately equivalent, methods: the Slavnov-Taylor identity satisfied by the three-gluon vertex, and the nonlinear Schwinger-Dyson equation that governs the dynamical evolution of this vertex. Our analysis reveals that the Slavnov-Taylor identity imposes strict model-independent constraints on the associated residues, preventing them from vanishing. Approximate versions of these constraints are subsequently recovered from the Schwinger-Dyson equation, once the elements responsible for the activation of the Schwinger mechanism have been duly incorporated. The excellent coincidence between the two approaches exposes a profound connection between symmetry and dynamics, and serves as a nontrivial self-consistency test of this particular mass generating scenario.

Abstract: Electrically charged particles can be created by the decay of strong enough electric fields, a phenomenon known as the Schwinger mechanism(1). By electromagnetic duality, a sufficiently strong magnetic field would similarly produce magnetic monopoles, if they exist(2). Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical fundamental particles that are predicted by several theories beyond the standard model(3-7) but have never been experimentally detected. Searching for the existence of magnetic monopoles via the Schwinger mechanism has not yet been attempted, but it is advantageous, owing to the possibility of calculating its rate through semi-classical techniques without perturbation theory, as well as that the production of the magnetic monopoles should be enhanced by their finite size(8,9) and strong coupling to photons(2,10). Here we present a search for magnetic monopole production by the Schwinger mechanism in Pb-Pb heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, producing the strongest known magnetic fields in the current Universe(11). It was conducted by the MoEDAL experiment, whose trapping detectors were exposed to 0.235 per nanobarn, or approximately 1.8 x 10(9), of Pb-Pb collisions with 5.02-teraelectronvolt center-of-mass energy per collision in November 2018. A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer scanned the trapping detectors of MoEDAL for the presence of magnetic charge, which would induce a persistent current in the SQUID. Magnetic monopoles with integer Dirac charges of 1, 2 and 3 and masses up to 75 gigaelectronvolts per speed of light squared were excluded by the analysis at the 95% confidence level. This provides a lower mass limit for finite-size magnetic monopoles from a collider search and greatly extends previous mass bounds.