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.
2 More- Received 6 August 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.024420
©2019 American Physical Society