Skyrmion Fractional Chern Insulator: An Intrinsically Multiband Route to Fractionalization in Rhombohedral Graphene

[2608.14535] Skyrmion Fractional Chern Insulator: An Intrinsically Multiband Route to Fractionalization in Rhombohedral Graphene Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search Condensed Matter > Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics arXiv:2608.14535 (cond-mat) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: Skyrmion Fractional Chern Insulator: An Intrinsically Multiband Route to Fractionalization in Rhombohedral Graphene Authors: Julian May-Mann , Tixuan Tan , Patrick J. Ledwith , Zhengyan Darius Shi , Trithep Devakul View a PDF of the paper titled Skyrmion Fractional Chern Insulator: An Intrinsically Multiband Route to Fractionalization in Rhombohedral Graphene, by Julian May-Mann and 4 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: We propose an unconventional microscopic origin for the fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) effect in rhombohedral graphene moiré superlattices: skyrmion fractionalization. We view the state at filling $\nu<1$ as a metal of skyrmion vacancies, charge $+e$ objects formed by removing layer-pseudospin skyrmions from the interaction-generated skyrmion lattice Chern insulator at $\nu=1$. These vacancies are intrinsically multiband degrees of freedom, absent in single Chern band-projected studies. Building on a recently proposed ideal limit, we first develop an effective field theory showing that skyrmion vacancies can themselves fractionalize, thereby inducing charge fractionalization. Focusing on $\nu=\frac{2}{3}$, we then construct explicit variational trial wavefunctions for the resulting skyrmion fractional Chern insulator and provide numerical evidence, together with general arguments, showing that this process is energetically favored. Our results establish a realistic route to the FQAH that does not rely on a partially filled Chern band, but instead arises from fractionalization of collective pseudospin textures. Subjects: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) ; Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14535 [cond-mat.mes-hall] (or arXiv:2608.14535v1 [cond-mat.mes-hall] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14535 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Trithep Devakul [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:49:51 UTC (3,503 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Skyrmion Fractional Chern Insulator: An Intrinsically Multiband Route to Fractionalization in Rhombohedral Graphene, by Julian May-Mann and 4 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: cond-mat.mes-hall < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.str-el References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

Related documents

• Broadband, electrically tunable third-harmonic generation in graphene#630324
• Antisymmetric breathing in altermagnetic skyrmions#1077119
• Heavy Fermion Insights into Magic-angle Twisted Bilayer Graphene#406785
• Spectral purity transfer between optical wavelengths at the $10^{-18}$ level#170448
• Decorated electronic kagome lattice in twisted bilayer germanene#986391