Skyrmion superconductivity: DMRG evidence for a topological route to superconductivity

Superconductivity is caused by the binding of electrons into Cooper pairs, which requires an attractive ``pairing glue'' to overcome Coulomb repulsion. Usually this attraction is mediated by bosonic fluctuations such as phonons or spin waves. Here, the authors numerically demonstrate the viability of another possibility: band topology can force electrons to bind into charge-2e topological textures, skyrmions. Using density matrix renormalization group calculations to solve for the ground state of the Coulomb interaction projected into topological bands, the authors show that the lowest-energy charged excitations are skyrmions that superconduct at finite density, thereby illustrating a distinct all-electronic mechanism for superconductivity.