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Magnetic monopoles1-3 are hypothetical elementary particles with quantized magnetic charge. In principle, a magnetic monopole can be detected by the quantized jump in magnetic flux that it generates upon passage through a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)4. Following the theoretical prediction that emergent magnetic monopoles should exist in several lanthanide pyrochlore magnetic insulators5,6, including Dy2Ti2O7, the SQUID technique has been proposed for their direct detection6. However, this approach has been hindered by the high number density and the generation-recombination fluctuations expected of such thermally generated monopoles. Recently, theoretical advances have enabled the prediction of the spectral density of magnetic-flux noise from monopole generation-recombination fluctuations in these materials7,8. Here we report the development of a SQUID-based flux noise spectrometer and measurements of the frequency and temperature dependence of magnetic-flux noise generated by Dy2Ti2O7 crystals. We detect almost all of the features of magnetic-flux noise predicted for magnetic monopole plasmas7,8, including the existence of intense magnetization noise and its characteristic frequency and temperature dependence. Moreover, comparisons of simulated and measured correlation functions of the magnetic-flux noise indicate that the motions of magnetic charges are strongly correlated. Intriguingly, because the generation-recombination time constant for Dy2Ti2O7 is in the millisecond range, magnetic monopole flux noise amplified by SQUID is audible to humans.
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Observation of a quantized jump in the magnetic flux Ф threading a SQUID loop is the definitive technique for the detection of magnetic monopoles4 (Fig. 1a). For example, an elementary Dirac monopole1 with magnetic charge m0 = ±h/(ß0e) (h is Planck's constant; e is the electron charge; ß0 is the magnetic constant) should generate a flux change of Ф0 = ±h/e upon passage through a SQUID loop. This approach was proposed6 for the detection of thermally generated magnetic monopoles, each with magnetic charge ±m,, in lanthanide pyrochlore magnetic insulators9,10 such as Dy2Ti2O7 and Ho2Ti2O7. If each monopole in a thermally generated ±m, pair departs to ±œ in opposite directions, the net flux threading the SQUID loop should evolve from 0 to Ф, = m,ß0 (Fig. 1b). However, because these materials are hypothesized to contain a dense monopole plasma, with equal numbers of ±m, magnetic charges...