Skyrmions in higher Landau levels

We calculate the energies of quasiparticles with large numbers of reversed spins (skyrmions) for odd-integer filling factors ν=2k+1, k1. We find, in contrast with the known result for ν=1 (k=0), that these quasiparticles always have higher energy than the fully polarized ones and hence are not the low-energy charged excitations, even at small Zeeman energies. It follows that skyrmions are the relevant quasiparticles only at ν=1, 1/3, and 1/5.