Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We investigate the skyrmion excited states atop the $SU(4)$ quantum Hall ferromagnetic ground state at filling factor $ν=-1$ in monolayer graphene. The competition among short-range anisotropic interactions, the Zeeman coupling, and sublattice symmetry-breaking potential gives rise to four distinct spin-valley-ordered ground-state phases. Combining effective field theory with the Hartree--Fock approximation, we develop a variational framework that incorporates both the long-range Coulomb interaction and the symmetry-breaking terms on an equal footing. Variational minimization determines the optimal skyrmion texture, including both its spatial radial profile and internal $SU(4)$ spinor structure. We establish the phase diagram of skyrmion excitations, identify thirteen distinct skyrmion phases under different external-field conditions, and determine their spin-valley textures, energies, and characteristic sizes. The robustness of the results against different radial ansätze demonstrates the reliability of our variational approach. Our work provides a systematic framework for studying skyrmion excitations in multicomponent quantum Hall ferromagnets and can be naturally extended to more general $SU(4)$ quantum Hall systems.
DOI: 10.1103/th22-7ycv
Authors: Jincheng An, Ajit C. Balram, Ganpathy Murthy
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G2294571178, G2816318943
OpenAlex ID: W7172447791