Reasoning
The trapping null and the cross-section-times-acceptance upper limits depend on the production model only through kinematics and detector acceptance. The step to a mass bound, however, requires an absolute production cross section, computed here from leading-order Feynman-like DY and gamma-gamma diagrams - ‘although the large monopole coupling to the photon places such calculations in the nonperturbative regime.’ The collaboration states the mass limits ‘are only indicative, since they rely upon cross sections computed (at leading order) using perturbative field theory when the monopole-photon coupling is too large to justify such an approach.’ The beta-dependent coupling and magnetic-moment parameter kappa variants are explored precisely to illustrate this theoretical spread (a nonperturbative alternative - thermal Schwinger production in heavy-ion collisions - is cited as a way around it). Consequence for downstream use: MoEDAL bounds how often the LHC makes monopoles only under these production models; a nonperturbatively suppressed (e.g. exponentially suppressed Schwinger-like) production rate would evade the mass limits while leaving the cross-section limits intact.