Non-Hermitian adiabatic perturbation theory of topological quantization of the average velocity of a magnetic skyrmion under thermal fluctuations

Abstract

We study the two-dimensional motion of a magnetic skyrmion driven by a ratchetlike polarized electric current that is periodic in both space and time. Some general cases are considered in each of which in the low-temperature and adiabatic limit, regardless of the details of the driving current, the time and statistical average velocity along any direction is topologically quantized as a Chern number multiplied by a basic unit. We make two approaches, one based on identifying the drift direction and the other based on the non-Hermitian adiabatic perturbation theory developed for the Fokker-Planck operator. Both approach apply in the case of periodicity along the direction of the driving current and homogeneity in the transverse direction for which the analytical result is confirmed by our numerical simulation on the constituent spins, and a convenient experiment is proposed.