Topological dipoles of quantum skyrmions

TL;DR

This paper reveals that quantum skyrmions exhibit a topological dipole conservation law, leading to immobility and connections to fracton theories and quantum Hall physics, offering new insights into their dynamics and potential applications.

Contribution

It introduces a topological dipole conservation law for quantum skyrmions, simplifying their equations of motion and linking their behavior to fracton and quantum Hall phenomena.

Findings

Quantum skyrmions are intrinsically pinned and immobile.

The topological charge density obeys the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman algebra.

Skyrmion dynamics relate to fractonic and fractional quantum Hall physics.

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are spatially localized whirls of spin moments in two dimension, featuring a nontrivial topological charge and a well-defined topological charge density. We demonstrate that the quantum dynamics of magnetic skyrmions is governed by a dipole conservation law associated with the topological charge, akin to that in fracton theories of excitations with constrained mobility. The dipole conservation law enables a natural definition of the collective coordinate to specify the skymion's position, which ultimately leads to a greatly simplified equation of motion in the form of the Thiele equation. In this formulation, the skyrmion mass, whose existence is often debated, actually vanishes. As a result, an isolated skyrmion is intrinsically pinned to be immobile and cannot move at a constant velocity. In a spin-wave theory, we show that such dynamics corresponds to a precise cancellation between a highly nontrivial motion of the quasi-classical skyrmion spin texture and a cloud of quantum fluctuations in the form of spin waves. Given this quenched kinetic energy of quantum skyrmions, we identify close analogies to the bosonic quantum Hall problem. In particular, the topological charge density is shown to obey the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman algebra that describes neutral modes of the lowest Landau level in the fractional quantum Hall problem. Consequently, the conservation of the topological dipole suggests that magnetic skyrmion materials offer a promising platform for exploring fractonic phenomena with close analogies to fractional quantum Hall states.