SU ( 3 ) Monopoles and their Fields

Some aspects of the fields of charge two SU(3) monopoles with minimal symmetry breaking are discussed. A certain class of solutions look like SU(2) monopoles embedded in SU(3) with a transition region or “cloud” surrounding the monopoles. For large cloud size the relative moduli space metric splits as a direct product AH× IR where AH is the Atiyah-Hitchin metric for SU(2) monopoles and IR has the flat metric. Thus the cloud is parametrised by IR which corresponds to its radius and SO(3) orientation. We solve for the long-range fields in this region, and examine the energy density and rotational moments of inertia. The moduli space metric for these monopoles, given by Dancer, is also expressed in a more explicit form.