Sam McConnich wrote:

> sorry for the crosspost, I'm not at home computer this is interesting
> some question if it is true and if there is not some other
> explanation for scifi games well, thought it could be interesting
> http://io9.com/5352998/physicists-discover-a-magnet-with-only-one-pole

I posted that to the Larry Niven discussion list, but unfortunately it
seems the article fatally overstates the facts. Here's the reply I
received from someone with a masters degree in physics:

> Sadly, the Nature article is very misleading (at least to me). I
> looked at the actual abstract
> (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1178868v1) for
> Morris's paper and found this
>
> "While sources of magnetic fields-magnetic monopoles-have so far
> proven elusive as elementary particles, several scenarios have been
> proposed recently in condensed matter physics of emergent
> quasiparticles resembling monopoles. A particularly simple
> proposition pertains to spin ice on the highly frustrated pyrochlore
> lattice. The spin ice state is argued to be well-described by
> networks of aligned dipoles resembling solenoidal tubes-classical,
> and observable, versions of a Dirac string. Where these tubes end,
> the resulting defect looks like a magnetic monopole. We demonstrate,
> by diffuse neutron scattering, the presence of such strings in the
> spin ice Dy2Ti2O7. This is achieved by applying a symmetry-breaking
> magnetic field with which we can manipulate density and orientation
> of the strings. In turn, heat capacity is described by a gas of
> magnetic monopoles interacting via a magnetic Coulomb interaction. "

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clear ether!
Lensman

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