Relativistic Magnetic Monopole Flux Constraints From RICE

Authors

Daniel P. Hogan, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KansasFollow
Dave Z. Besson, University of Kansas - LawrenceFollow
John P. Ralston, University of KansasFollow
Ilya Kravchenko, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
D. Seckel, University of DelawareFollow

Date of this Version

2008

Comments

Published in PHYSICAL REVIEW D 78, 075031 (2008). Copyright © 2008 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

We report an upper limit on the flux of relativistic monopoles based on the nonobservation of in-ice showers by the Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) at the South Pole. We obtain a 95% C.L. limit of order 10^-18(cm² s sr)^-1 for intermediate-mass monopoles of 10⁷ ≤ γ ≤ 10¹² at the anticipated energy E_tot = 10¹⁶ GeV. This bound is over an order of magnitude stronger than all previously published experimental limits for this range of boost parameters γ and exceeds 2 orders of magnitude improvement over most of the range. We review the physics of radio detection, describe a Monte Carlo simulation including continuous and stochastic energy losses, and compare to previous experimental limits.