Beyond the Magnetic Monopole: The Magnetic Metapole

Modern theories of particle physics have revealed that the electric charge can be fractional such as that of quarks [1]. For this reason, we can imagine an analogous scenario for the magnetic charge. Extending the concepts of magnetic potential theory we can introduce a fractional magnetic charge, the metapole. Some important properties of this fractional magnetic charge are described together with an outline of some fundamental consequences of its possible existence.