Monopoles, particles and rational functions (Q1916018)

\textit{N. S. Manton} and \textit{M. K. Murrary} [`Symmetric monopoles', Preprint (1994)] made the following conjecture: If a polynomial \(p(z)\) of degree \(k- 1\) is given, then an \(\text{SU}(2)\) monopole corresponding to a rational function \(p(z)/q(z)\) with well-separated poles \(\beta_1,\dots, \beta_k\) is approximately made up from charge 1 monopoles located at points \((1/2\ln |p(\beta_i)|, \beta_i)\). The author proves the conjecture and shows how the rate of approximation changes with the numerator \(p(z)\), and a consequence is that as long as the values of the numerator remain close together relative to the distances between the poles, the above conjecture retains its validity. It is also shown that the spectral curve of the monopole approaches the union of curves of charge 1 monopoles exponentially fast, and this is true also for \(\text{SU}(N)\) monopoles.