Scattering of topological solitons on holes and barriers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how topological solitons scatter when encountering holes and barriers using the 'new baby Skyrme' model, revealing velocity-dependent behaviors such as repulsion, trapping, and transmission.

Contribution

It introduces a position-dependent potential in the baby Skyrme model to analyze soliton scattering on obstructions, highlighting distinct behaviors for holes and barriers.

Findings

Barriers cause soliton repulsion at low velocities and elastic transmission at high velocities.

Holes trap solitons at low velocities and allow energy-loss transmission at high velocities.

Scattering behaviors depend critically on obstacle type and soliton velocity.

Abstract

We study the scattering properties of topological solitons on obstructions in the form of holes and barriers. We use the 'new baby Skyrme' model in (2+1) dimensions and we model the obstructions by making the coefficient of the baby skyrme model potential - position dependent. We find that that the barrier leads to the repulsion of the solitons (for low velocities) or their complete transmission (at higher velocities) with the process being essentially elastic. The hole case is different; for small velocities the solitons are trapped while at higher velocities they are transmitted with a loss of energy. We present some comments explaining the observed behaviour.