Skyrmion zoo in graphene at charge neutrality in a strong magnetic field

Abstract

As a consequence of the approximate spin-valley symmetry in graphene, the ground state of electrons in graphene at charge neutrality is a particular SU(4) quantum-Hall ferromagnet to minimize their exchange energy. If only the Coulomb interaction is taken into account, this ferromagnet can appeal either to the spin degree of freedom or equivalently to the valley pseudo-spin degree of freedom. This freedom in choice is then limited by subleading energy scales that explicitly break the SU(4) symmetry, the simplest of which is given by the Zeeman effect that orients the spin in the direction of the magnetic field. In addition, there are also valley symmetry breaking terms that can arise from short-range interactions or electron-phonon couplings. Here, we build upon the phase diagram, which has been obtained by Kharitonov [Phys. Rev. B \textbf{85}, 155439 (2012)], in order to identify the different skyrmions that are compatible with these types of quantum-Hall ferromagnets. Similarly to the ferromagnets, the skyrmions at charge neutrality are described by the $\text{Gr}(2,4)$ Grassmannian at the center, which allows us to construct the skyrmion spinors. The different skyrmion types are then obtained by minimizing their energy within a variational approach, with respect to the remaining free parameters that are not fixed by the requirement that the skyrmion at large distances from their center must be compatible with the ferromagnetic background. We show that the different skyrmion types have a clear signature in the local, sublattice-resolved, spin magnetization, which is in principle accessible in scanning-tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy.