Thermal production of superheavy magnetic monopoles in the new inflationary-universe scenario

We consider the thermal production of superheavy (e.g. 1016 GeV) monopoles in an inflationary-universe scenario in which the grand-unified-theory (GUT) and inflationary phase transitions are distinct. By investigating the requirements placed on the GUT sector in such a scenario, we find that a large class of GUT models are consistent with the scenario and admit reheating to temperatures high enough to produce "interesting" (i.e., observable but not overabundant) numbers of thermal monopoles. We conclude that these scenarios could provide an explanation for the existence of superheavy magnetic monopoles in an inflationary universe.