Divisibility of the Dirac Magnetic Monopole as a Two-Vector Bundle over the Three-Sphere

We show that when the gerbe $\mu$ representing a magnetic monopole is viewed as a virtual 2-vector bundle, then it decomposes, modulo torsion, as two times a virtual 2-vector bundle $\varsigma$. We therefore interpret $\varsigma$ as representing half a magnetic monopole, or a semipole.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 19D50, 55P43, 81S10, 81T40.

Keywords and Phrases: magnetic monopole, gerbe, two-vector bundle, higher algebraic $K$-theory, topological Hochschild homology.

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