Monopoles, Clarified
Abstract
We propose a manifestly duality-invariant, Lorentz-invariant, and local action to describe quantum electrodynamics theory in the presence of magnetic monopoles that derives from Sen's formalism. By employing field strengths as the dynamical variables, rather than potentials, this formalism resolves longstanding ambiguities in prior frameworks. Our analysis finds consistent outcomes at both tree and loop levels using the established principles of quantum field theory, obviating the need for external assumptions or amendments. We clarify the mechanisms of charge renormalisation and demonstrate the renormalisation group invariance of the charge quantisation condition. Our approach can be useful for phenomenological studies and in quantum field theories with strong-weak dualities.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2504.16673,
title = {Monopoles, Clarified},
author = {Aviral Aggarwal and Subhroneel Chakrabarti and Madhusudhan Raman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.16673},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
23 pages, 6 figures, 1 appendix. Minor corrections to the action and the Feynman rules. The main conclusions remain unchanged. Added a subsection to explain the connection to Sen's formalism. Added an appendix on extended Maxwell's equations with 2-form sources. Typos corrected. Acknowledgement and references added