Abstract

There exists an analog of electrodynamics in which the vector potential is replaced by a p-form. The role of electrically charged point-particles is then played by extended objects of dimension p − 1. It is shown here how to extend this “p-form electrodynamics” to include the analog of the Dirac magnetic pole. In a spacetime of dimension n the monopole is also an extended object, but of dimension n − p −3, dual to that of the “electric” and “magnetic” coupling constants are not dimensionless. However their product is always a pure number, which must take integer values according to the Dirac quantization condition.