Configurational entropy of magnetic skyrmions as an ideal gas

TL;DR

This paper models the thermodynamic behavior of magnetic skyrmions, showing their size distribution follows Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics, and calculates their configurational entropy to understand thermal fluctuations, aiding skyrmion-based technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic model for magnetic skyrmions, linking their size distribution to an ideal gas analogy and deriving their configurational entropy.

Findings

Skyrmion diameters follow Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.

Skyrmion free energy can be modeled as a parabola.

Configurational entropy quantifies thermal size and shape fluctuations.

Abstract

The study of thermodynamics of topological defects is an important challenge to understand their underlying physics. Among them, magnetic skyrmions have a leading role for their physical properties and potential applications in storage and neuromorphic computing. In this paper, the thermodynamic statistics of magnetic skyrmions is derived. It is shown that the skyrmion free energy can be modelled via a parabolic function and the diameters statistics obeys the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. This allows for making an analogy between the behavior of the distribution of skyrmion diameters statistics and the diluted gas Maxwell-Boltzmann molecules distribution at thermodynamical equilibrium. The calculation of the skyrmion configurational entropy, due to thermally-induced changes of size and shape of the skyrmion, is essential for the determination of thermal fluctuations of the skyrmion energy around its average value. These results can be employed to advance the field of skyrmionics.