New skyrmions in the attractive Hubbard model with broken SO(4) symmetry

Abstract

The coexistence of superconducting and charge-density-wave order in the half-filled attractive Hubbard model is interpreted as a consequence of the pseudospin SU(2) symmetry spontaneously broken to a `hidden' subgroup U(1). By topological arguments we show that there must exist new skyrmion textures associated with this symmetry breakdown. This fact is illustrated via a non-linear $\sigma$-model. Unlike the spin textures previously known in an antiferromagnetic background, doping the model away from half-filling leads the new skyrmions to unwrap.