Recently in physics news, scientists have experimentally discovered the so-called quantum mechanical monopole. It seems that a quantum mechanical monopole is different from a magnetic monopole. So my question is what exactly is a quantum mechanical monopole and what are the differences between the two if there are any.
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1$\begingroup$ There is a more detailed description of the experiment on the nature web site $\endgroup$– John RennieCommented May 5, 2015 at 6:25
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2$\begingroup$ Related: physics.stackexchange.com/q/95913/2451 , physics.stackexchange.com/q/95962/2451 and links therein. $\endgroup$– Qmechanic ♦Commented May 5, 2015 at 6:26
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1$\begingroup$ The thing is, they didn't observe a magnetic monopole (as in "a particle with magnetic charge"). Rather, they took a bunch of atoms, cooled them down to a temperature near the absolute zero (forming what is known as a Bose-Einstein condensate) and studied the behaviour of an electron in the vicinity of this condensate. The electron effectively "saw" a magnetic monopole. In the links provided by @Qmechanic you can find other examples of such "synthetic monopoles". For "real" monopoles, follow the MoEDAL experiment at CERN. $\endgroup$– DemostheneCommented May 5, 2015 at 9:28
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