Bound monopoles in Brans–Dicke theory

We consider axially symmetric SU(2) Yang–Mills–Higgs (YMH) multimonopoles in Brans–Dicke theory for winding number n>1. In analogy to the spherically symmetric n=1 solutions, we find that the axially symmetric solutions exist for higher values of the gravitational coupling than in the pure Einstein gravity case. For large values of the gravitational coupling, the solutions collapse to form a black hole which outside the horizon can be described by an extremal Reissner–Nordström solution. Similarly as in the pure Einstein gravity case, like-charged monopoles reside in an attractive phase in a limited domain of parameter space. However, we find that the strength of attraction is decreasing for decreasing Brans–Dicke parameter ω.