- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Ionization-based search for magnetic monopoles using the NOvA Far Detector

S. Abubakar12, M. A. Acero2, B. Acharya34, P. Adamson13, N. Anfimov29, A. Antoshkin29, E. Arrieta-Diaz30, L. Asquith43, A. Aurisano7 et al. (NOvA Collaboration)

A. Aurisano7, A. Back22,27, N. Balashov29, P. Baldi28, B. A. Bambah19, E. F. Bannister43, A. Barros2, J. Barrow33, A. Bat3,12, T. J. C. Bezerra43, V. Bhatnagar37, B. Bhuyan16, J. Bian28,33, A. C. Booth39,43, R. Bowles22, B. Brahma20, C. Bromberg31, N. Buchanan9, J. Burns7, A. Butkevich24, E. Catano-Mur50, J. P. Cesar45, S. Chaudhary16, R. Chirco21, S. Choate26, B. C. Choudhary11, O. T. K. Chow39, A. Christensen9, M. F. Cicala47, T. E. Coan42, T. Contreras13, A. Cooleybeck51, D. Coveyou48, L. Cremonesi39, G. S. Davies34, P. F. Derwent13, P. Ding13, K. Dever39, Z. Djurcic1, K. Dobbs18, D. Dueñas Tonguino14,7, E. C. Dukes48, R. Ehrlich48, E. Ewart22, P. Filip25, M. J. Frank40, H. R. Gallagher46, A. Giri20, R. A. Gomes15, M. C. Goodman1, R. Group48, A. Gusmão15, A. Habig32, F. Hakl23, J. Hartnell43, R. Hatcher13, J. M. Hays39, M. He18, K. Heller33, V. Hewes7, A. Himmel13, T. Horoho48, X. Huang34, A. Ivanova29, B. Jargowsky28, I. Kakorin29, A. Kalitkina29, D. M. Kaplan21, A. Khanam44, B. Kirezli12, J. Kleykamp34, O. Klimov29, L. W. Koerner18, L. Kolupaeva29, R. Kralik43, A. Kumar37, C. D. Kuruppu41, V. Kus10, T. Lackey13,22, K. Lang45, J. Lesmeister18, A. Lister51, J. A. Lock43, S. Magill1, W. A. Mann46, M. T. Manoharan8, M. Manrique Plata22, A. Marathe47, M. L. Marshak33, M. Martinez-Casales13,27, V. Matveev24, A. Medhi16, B. Mehta37, M. D. Messier22, H. Meyer49, T. Miao13, V. Mikola47, S. R. Mishra41, R. Mohanta19, A. Moren32, A. Morozova29, W. Mu13, L. Mualem5, M. Muether49, C. Murthy45, D. Myers45, J. Nachtman26, D. Naples38, J. K. Nelson50, O. Neogi26, R. Nichol47, E. Niner13, M. Nixon33, A. Norman13, A. Norrick13, H. Oh7, A. Olshevskiy29, T. Olson18, A. Pal36,17, J. Paley13, L. Panda36,17, R. B. Patterson5, G. Pawloski33, R. Petti41, R. K. Pradhan20, L. R. Prais34,7, A. Rafique1, V. Raj5, M. Rajaoalisoa7, B. Ramson13, B. Rebel51, C. Reynolds39, E. Robles28, P. Roy49, D. Sagar28, O. Samoylov29, M. C. Sanchez14,27, S. Sánchez Falero27, P. Shanahan13, P. Sharma37, A. Sheshukov29, A. Shmakov28, W. Shorrock43, S. Shukla4, I. Singh11, P. Singh39,11, V. Singh4, S. Singh Chhibra39, J. Smolik10, P. Snopok21, N. Solomey49, A. Sousa7, K. Soustruznik6, M. Strait13,33, C. Sullivan46, L. Suter13, A. Sutton14,27, K. Sutton5, S. K. Swain36,17, A. Sztuc47, N. Talukdar41, P. Tas6, J. Thomas47, E. Tiras12,27, M. Titus8, Y. Torun21, D. Tran18, J. Trokan-Tenorio50, J. Urheim22, B. Utt33, P. Vahle50, Z. Vallari35, K. J. Vockerodt39, A. V. Waldron39, M. Wallbank7,13, C. Weber33, M. Wetstein27, D. Whittington44, D. A. Wickremasinghe13, J. Wolcott46, S. Wu33, W. Wu38, Y. Xiao28, B. Yaeggy7, A. Yahaya49, A. Yankelevich28, K. Yonehara13, S. Zadorozhnyy24, J. Zalesak25, L. Zhao28, and R. Zwaska13 (NOvA Collaboration)

  • 1Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
  • 2Universidad del Atlantico, Carrera 30 No. 8-49, Puerto Colombia, Atlantico, Colombia
  • 3Engineering Sciences Department, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Bandirma Onyedi Eylül University, 10200, Bandirma, Bal𝚤kesir, Turkey
  • 4Department of Physics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India
  • 5California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 6Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 7Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA
  • 8Department of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi 682 022, India
  • 9Department of Physics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1875, USA
  • 10Czech Technical University in Prague, Brehova 7, 115 19 Prague 1, Czech Republic
  • 11Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India
  • 12Department of Physics, Erciyes University, Kayseri 38030, Turkey
  • 13Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA
  • 14Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA
  • 15Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás 74690-900, Brazil
  • 16Department of Physics, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati 781 039, India
  • 17Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India
  • 18Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
  • 19School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, India
  • 20Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad 502 205, India
  • 21Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA
  • 22Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
  • 23Institute of Computer Science, The Czech Academy of Sciences, 182 07 Prague, Czech Republic
  • 24Institute for Nuclear Research of Russia, Academy of Sciences 7a, 60th October Anniversary prospect, Moscow 117312, Russia
  • 25Institute of Physics, The Czech Academy of Sciences, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
  • 26Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
  • 27Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
  • 28Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA
  • 29Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Moscow region 141980, Russia
  • 30Universidad del Magdalena, Carrera 32 No. 22-08, Santa Marta, Colombia
  • 31Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
  • 32Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota 55812, USA
  • 33School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
  • 34University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA
  • 35Department of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
  • 36National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 752050, India
  • 37Department of Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160 014, India
  • 38Department of Physics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
  • 39Particle Physics Research Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom
  • 40Department of Physics, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688, USA
  • 41Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA
  • 42Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
  • 43Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, United Kingdom
  • 44Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13210, USA
  • 45Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
  • 46Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA
  • 47Physics and Astronomy Department, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
  • 48Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA
  • 49Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas 67260, USA
  • 50Department of Physics, William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA
  • 51Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

PDF

Phys. Rev. D 113, 112014 – Published 29 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/spfn-hnhv

Abstract

We report a search for highly ionizing magnetic monopoles in the cosmic-ray flux using a 2713-day dataset collected during 2015–2025 with the NOvA Far Detector, a 14-kt segmented detector located on Earth’s surface in Minnesota, United States. The search is sensitive to monopoles across a wide range of speeds, 7×10−4<β<0.995, and is sensitive to masses as low as 2×105  GeV for the fastest monopoles. No signal was observed. With the detector’s large surface area and minimal overburden, we achieve the strongest flux limits reported to date in several regions of speed and mass. For heavy monopoles with masses above 1013  GeV that are able to reach the detector from above or—crossing Earth—from below, we find a flux limit ϕ90%<2×10−16  cm−2 s−1 sr−1 (90% confidence level) for monopoles with 0.005<β<0.8. Across the same range of speeds, we report a limit ϕ90%<8×10−16  cm−2 s−1 sr−1 for light monopoles with masses above 108  GeV that can reach the detector from above.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (52)

  1. P. A. M. Dirac, Proc. R. Soc. A 133, 60 (1931).
  2. J. Polchinski, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 19, 145 (2004).
  3. S. Navas et al. (Particle Data Group), Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
  4. G. ’t Hooft, Nucl. Phys. B79, 276 (1974).
  5. A. M. Polyakov, JETP Lett. 20, 194 (1974).
  6. T. W. Kephart and Q. Shafi, Phys. Lett. B 520, 313 (2001).
  7. Y. M. Cho and D. Maison, Phys. Lett. B 391, 360 (1997).
  8. O. Gould and A. Rajantie, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 241601 (2017).
  9. P. Q. Hung, Nucl. Phys. B962, 115278 (2021).
  10. Y. M. Cho, K. Kimm, and J. H. Yoon, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 31, 1650053 (2016).
  11. Y. B. Zeldovich and M. Y. Khlopov, Phys. Lett. 79B, 239 (1978).
  12. J. P. Preskill, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 1365 (1979).
  13. M. S. Turner, E. N. Parker, and T. J. Bogdan, Phys. Rev. D 26, 1296 (1982).
  14. E. N. Parker, Astrophys. J. 160, 383 (1970).
  15. B. Cabrera, M. Taber, R. Gardner, and J. Bourg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 1933 (1983).
  16. B. Cabrera, Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 1378 (1982).
  17. V. A. Rubakov, JETP Lett. 33, 644 (1981).
  18. V. A. Rubakov and M. S. Serebryakov, Nucl. Phys. B218, 240 (1983).
  19. C. G. Callan, Nucl. Phys. B212, 391 (1983).
  20. K. Ueno et al. (Super–Kamiokande Collaboration), Astropart. Phys. 36, 131 (2012).
  21. S. Balestra et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 55, 57 (2008).
  22. M. Ambrosio et al. (MACRO Collaboration), Eur. Phys. J. C 25, 511 (2002).
  23. M. G. Aartsen et al. (IceCube Collaboration), Eur. Phys. J. C 76, 133 (2016).
  24. R. Abbasi et al. (IceCube Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 051101 (2022).
  25. A. Albert et al. (ANTARES Collaboration), J. High Energy Astrophys. 34, 1 (2022).
  26. A. Albert et al. (ANTARES Collaboration), J. High Energy Astrophys. 50, 100500 (2026).
  27. P. H. Eberhard, R. R. Ross, L. W. Alvarez, and R. D. Watt, Phys. Rev. D 4, 3260 (1971).
  28. L. W. Alvarez, P. H. Eberhard, R. R. Ross, and R. D. Watt, Science 167, 701 (1970).
  29. B. Acharya et al. (MoEDAL Collaboration), J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2016) 067.
  30. B. Acharya et al. (MoEDAL Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 021802 (2019).
  31. B. Acharya et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 071803 (2024).
  32. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 061803 (2025).
  33. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2023) 112.
  34. S. Iguro, R. Plestid, and V. Takhistov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 201101 (2022).
  35. D. S. Ayres et al. (NOvA Collaboration), The NOvA Technical Design Report, Report No. FERMILAB-DESIGN-2007-01 (2007).
  36. J. J. Grudzinski, R. L. Talaga, A. Pla-Dalmau, J. E. Fagan, C. Grozis, K. Kephart, and R. Fischer (NOvA Collaboration), J. Vinyl Additive Tech. 22, 368 (2016).
  37. S. Mufson et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 799, 1 (2015).
  38. A. Aurisano, C. Backhouse, R. Hatcher, N. Mayer, J. Musser, R. Patterson, R. Schroeter, and A. Sousa, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 664, 072002 (2015).
  39. S. Agostinelli et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 506, 250 (2003).
  40. S. P. Ahlen and K. Kinoshita, Phys. Rev. D 26, 2347 (1982).
  41. S. P. Ahlen, Phys. Rev. D 17, 229 (1978).
  42. N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, A. Aurisano, O. Samoylov, and A. Sotnikov, J. Instrum. 15, C06066 (2020).
  43. M. A. Acero et al. (NOvA Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 103, 012007 (2021).
  44. I. Frank and I. Tamm, Coherent visible radiation of fast electrons passing through matter, in Selected Papers, edited by B. M. Bolotovskii, V. Y. Frenkel, and R. Peierls (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1991), pp. 29–35.
  45. J. Derkaoui, G. Giacomelli, T. Lari, A. Margiotta, M. Ouchrif, L. Patrizii, V. Popa, and V. Togo, Astropart. Phys. 9, 173 (1998).
  46. A. Norman et al., J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 664, 082041 (2015).
  47. E. Witten, Phys. Rev. D 30, 272 (1984).
  48. J. D. Bjorken and L. D. McLerran, Phys. Rev. D 20, 2353 (1979).
  49. A. Chodos, R. L. Jaffe, K. Johnson, C. B. Thorn, and V. F. Weisskopf, Phys. Rev. D 9, 3471 (1974).
  50. N. Arkani–Hamed, S. Dimopoulos, and G. Dvali, Phys. Lett. B 429, 263 (1998).
  51. P. C. Argyres, S. Dimopoulos, and J. March-Russell, Phys. Lett. B 441, 96 (1998).
  52. R. Emparan, G. T. Horowitz, and R. C. Myers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 499 (2000).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 113, 112014– Published 29 June, 2026
  • Received 23 December 2025
  • Revised 17 March 2026
  • Accepted 20 April 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation