Magnetic monopole searches with the MoEDAL experiment at the LHC

The magnetic monopole appears in theories of spontaneous ga uge symmetry breaking and its existence would explain the quantisation of electric charg e. MoEDAL is the latest approved LHC experiment, designed to search directly for monopoles. It h as now taken data for the first time. The MoEDAL detectors are based on two complementary techniq ues: nuclear-track detectors are sensitive to the high-ionisation signature expected fr om a monopole, and the new magnetic monopole trapper (MMT) relies on the stopping and trapping o f monopoles inside an aluminium array which is then analysed with a superconducting magneto meter. Preliminary results obtained with a subset of the MoEDAL MMT test array deployed in 2012 are presented, where monopoles with charge above the fundamental unit magnetic charge or ma ss above 1.5 TeV are probed for the first time at the LHC