Pairing of solitons in two-dimensional S=1 magnets

We study a general model of isotropic two-dimensional spin-1 magnet, which is relevant for the physics of ultracold atoms with hyperfine S=1 spins in an optical lattice at odd filling. We demonstrate a novel mechanism of soliton pairing occurring in the vicinity of a special point with an enhanced SU(3) symmetry: upon perturbing the SU(3) symmetry, solitons with odd CP2 topological charge are confined into pairs that remain stable objects.