MONOPOLE-ANTIMONOPOLE INTERACTION IN ABELIAN HIGGS-MODEL

We consider interaction of a probe monopole-antimonopole pair in the v acuum of the Abelian Higgs model. For simplicity, the mass of the Higg s particle is assumed to be much larger than the mass of the photon (L ondon limit). In case of a massive photon the straightforward applicat ion of the Zwanziger formalism to accommodate both magnetic and electr ic charges is known to result in gauge dependence and infrared instabi lities. We argue that the use of the string representation of the Abel ian Higgs model allows to ameliorate both difficulties. In particular, we arrive at a well defined expression for the potential energy of th e static monopole sources. We argue that the monopole-antimonopole int eraction cannot be described by a massive photon exchange with a defin ite propagator having simple analytical properties. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.