Sobre monopolos magnéticos en “Hielos de Spin”.

Resumen

Recent claims of magnetic monopoles and strings in the Nanophysics of spin-ice lattices are revised and analized. We start with a thorough explanation of the main features of the fundamental gauge monopoles and the related Dirac “strings”. After a careful analysis of the results and simulations we conclude that the observed excitations do not share any properties with the Dirac monopoles. We then critically examine the fascinating problem of the nature and interactions of the new objects, concluding that they are more subtle than claimed.