It is impossible to make magnetic monopoles from a bar magnet. If a bar magnet is cut in half, it is not the case that one half has the north pole and the other half has the south pole. Instead, each piece has its own north and south poles. A magnetic monopole cannot be created from normal matter such as atoms and electrons, but would instead be a new particle.
In particle physics, a magnetic monopole is a hypothetical particle that is an isolated magnet with only one magnetic pole (a north pole without a south pole or vice versa).[1][2] A magnetic monopole would have a net north or south "magnetic charge". Modern interest in the concept stems from particle theories, notably the grand unified and superstring theories, which predict their existence.[3][4]
The known elementary particles that have electric charge are electric monopoles.
Magnetism in bar magnets and electromagnets is not caused by magnetic monopoles, and indeed, there is no known experimental or observational evidence that magnetic monopoles exist. A magnetic monopole is not necessarily an elementary particle, and models for magnetic monopole production can include (but are not limited to) spin-0 monopoles or spin-1 massive vector mesons.[5] The term "magnetic monopole" only refers to the nature of the particle, rather than a designation for a single particle.
Some condensed matter systems contain effective (non-isolated) magnetic monopole quasi-particles,[6] or contain phenomena that are mathematically analogous to magnetic monopoles.[7]
^Wen, Xiao-Gang; Witten, Edward, "Electric and magnetic charges in superstring models", Nuclear Physics B, Volume 261, pp. 651–677
^
S. Coleman, "The Magnetic Monopole 50 years Later", reprinted in
Coleman, Sidney (February 26, 1988). Aspects of Symmetry: Selected Erice Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0521318273.