Hopfions in a lattice dimer model

Grigory Bednik
Phys. Rev. B 100, 024420 – Published 19 July 2019

Abstract

In this paper, we study the topological properties of a 3D lattice dimer model. We demonstrate that the dimer model on a bipartite lattice possesses topological defects, which are exactly characterized by the Hopf invariant. We derive its explicit algebraic expression in terms of the effective magnetic field of a dimer configuration. Thus we solve the problem of topological classification of possible states in a 3D lattice dimer model. Furthermore, since the lattice dimer model is known to be dual to spin ice, our work can be viewed as a proposal to search for hopfions in classical, as well as artificial spin ice and related materials.

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  • Received 6 August 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.024420

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & ThermodynamicsCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Grigory Bednik

  • UC Santa Cruz Physics Department, 1156 High Street Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA

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Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 2 — 1 July 2019

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