Electromagnetic duality, charges, monopoles, topology, ...

Abstract

In this talk we review the subject of electromagnetic duality, and related ones, as "normal" electric and magnetic charges, being different from monopoles (magnetic or electric), the topological content of monopoles, surface terms, Dirac strings and chiral structure in the inclusion of massless spinor field and its relation to torsion. We limit our discussion to the simplest, Heaviside electromagnetic duality, include some links with the nonabelian gauge theories and make no comment on the use of this concept in string theories. Old and recent contributions on the subject are presented and discussed, and possible lines of research will hopefully be indicated.