INSTANTONS IN THE MAXIMALLY ABELIAN GAUGE

We investigate the Maximally Abelian (MA) Projection for a single SU(2 ) instanton in continuum gauge theory. We find that there is a class o f solutions to the differential MA gauge condition with circular monop ole loops of radius R centered on the instanton of width p. However, t he MA gauge fixing functional G decreases monotonically as R/p --> 0. Its global minimum is the instanton in the singular gauge. We point ou t that interactions with nearby anti-instantons are likely to excite t hese monopole loops.