Electron states, bound to a texture in a N\'eel antiferromagnet

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron states bound to topological textures like skyrmions and domain walls in Ne9el antiferromagnets influence the textures' energy and geometry, revealing significant effects on phase transitions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of bound electron states in Ne9el antiferromagnets and quantifies their impact on the textures' energy and phase behavior, a novel insight in the field.

Findings

Bound states significantly affect the energy of topological textures.

The bound-state contribution alters the equilibrium geometry of textures.

It shifts the phase transition line between modulated and uniform phases.

Abstract

We study electron states, bound to topological textures such as skyrmions and domain walls in a N\'eel antiferromagnet. In certain limits, we find the dependence of bound states on the geometry of the texture, and estimate the bound-state contribution to its energy. This contribution proves significant compared with the purely magnetic energy, and substantially affects the equilibrium geometry of the texture. The bound-state contribution also induces a large shift of the transition line between the modulated and the uniform phase, extending the latter.