We investigate and revisit certain aspects of relativistic baryons in the Skyrme model. Starting from static baryons in the helicity eigenstates, we generalize their wavefunctions to the non-static and relativistic regime. A new representation for gamma matrices in the SU(2) collective space is constructed and the corresponding Dirac equation is obtained. Furthermore, we extend the analysis of Adkins et al. concerning vector current vacuum expectation values for baryon states to arbitrary momenta and calculate baryon elastic form factors in a general framework exhibiting vector meson dominance.
We study a Skyrme-type model with a potential term motivated by Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), which we call the BEC Skyrme model. We consider two flavors of the model, the first is the Skyrme model and the second has a sixth-order derivative term instead of the Skyrme term; both with the added BEC-motivated potential. The model contains toroidally shaped Skyrmions and they are characterized by two integers P and Q, representing the winding numbers of two complex scalar fields along the toroidal and poloidal cycles of the torus, respectively. The baryon number is B=PQ. We find stable Skyrmi…
We calculate the rotational-vibrational spectrum in the BPS Skyrme model for the hedgehog skyrmion with baryon number one. The resulting excitation energies for the nucleon and delta Roper resonances are slightly above their experimental values. Together with the fact that in the standard Skyrme model these excitation energies are significantly lower than the experimental ones, this provides strong evidence for the conjecture that the inclusion of the BPS Skyrme model is necessary for a successful quantitative description of physical properties of baryons and nuclei.
We introduce a variation of the Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC)-Skyrme model, with an altered potential for miscible BECs that gives rise to two physical vortex strings. In the ground state of each topological sector, the vortices are linked exactly $B$ times, due to a recently formulated theorem, with $B$ being the baryon number of the solution. The model also possesses metastable states, where the vortices are degenerate and do not lend the interpretation of the baryon number as the linking number of the vortices.
We investigate the large baryon number sector of the Einstein-Skyrme model as a possible model for baryon stars. Gravitating hedgehog skyrmions have been investigated previously and the existence of stable solitonic stars excluded due to energy considerations. However, in this paper we demonstrate that by generating gravitating skyrmions using rational maps, we can achieve multi-baryon bound states whilst recovering spherical symmetry in the limit where B becomes large.
We study two-dimensional, large $N$ field theoretic models (Gross-Neveu model, 't Hooft model) at finite baryon density near the chiral limit. The same mechanism which leads to massless baryons in these models induces a breakdown of translational invariance at any finite density. In the chiral limit baryonic matter is characterized by a spatially varying chiral angle with a wave number depending only on the density. For small bare quark masses a sine-Gordon kink chain is obtained which may be regarded as simplest realization of the Skyrme crystal for nuclear matter. Characteristic differences …
Within the class of field theories with the field contents of the Skyrme model, one submodel can be found which consists of the square of the baryon current and a potential term only. For this submodel, a Bogomolny bound exists and the static soliton solutions saturate this bound. Further, already on the classical level, this BPS Skyrme model reproduces some features of the liquid drop model of nuclei. Here, we investigate the model in more detail and, besides, we perform the rigid rotor quantization of the simplest Skyrmion (the nucleon). In addition, we discuss indications that the viability…
A consistent ansatz for the Skyrme model in (3+1)-dimensions which is able to reduce the complete set of Skyrme field equations to just one equation for the profile in situations in which the Baryon charge can be arbitrary large is introduced: moreover, the field equation for the profile can be solved explicitly. Such configurations describe ordered arrays of Baryonic tubes living in flat space-times at finite density. The plots of the energy density (as well as of the Baryon density) clearly show that the regions of maximal energy density have the shape of a tube: the energy density and the B…
We construct a spherical domain wall which has baryon charge distributed on a sphere of finite radius in a Skyrme model with a sixth order derivative term and a modified mass term. Its distribution of energy density likewise takes the form of a sphere. In order to localize the domain wall at a finite radius we need a negative coefficient in front of the Skyrme term and a positive coefficient of the sixth order derivative term to stabilize the soliton. Increasing the pion mass pronounces the shell-like structure of the configuration.
We continue the investigation of thermodynamical properties of the BPS Skyrme model. In particular, we analytically compute the baryon chemical potential both in the full field theory and in a mean-field approximation. In the full field theory case, we find that the baryon chemical potential is always exactly proportional to the baryon density, for arbitrary solutions. We further find that, in the mean-field approximation, the BPS Skyrme model approaches the Walecka model in the limit of high density - their thermodynamical functions as well as the equation of state agree in this limit. This f…
We construct the first analytic self-gravitating Skyrmions with higher Baryon charge in four dimensions for the $SU(3)$-Skyrme-Einstein-$Λ$ theory by combining the generalized hedgehog ansatz with the approach developed by Balachandran et al. to describe the first (numerical) example of a non-embedded solution. These are genuine $SU(3)$ analytic solutions instead of trivial embeddings of $SU(2)$ into $SU(3)$ and its geometry is that of a Bianchi IX Universe. The Skyrme ansatz is chosen in such a way that the Skyrme field equations are identically satisfied in the sector with Baryon charge 4. T…
There are only three stable singularities of a differentiable map between three-dimensional manifolds, namely folds, cusps and swallowtails. A Skyrme configuration is a map from space to SU(2), and its singularities correspond to the points where the baryon density vanishes. In this paper we consider the singularity structure of Skyrme configurations. The Skyrme model can only be solved numerically. However, there are good analytic ansaetze. The simplest of these, the rational map ansatz, has a non-generic singularity structure. This leads us to introduce a non-holomorphic ansatz as a generali…
Based on the observation that the skyrmion in Skyrme theory can be viewed as a dressed monopole, we show that the skyrmions have two independent topology, the baryon topology $π_3(S^3)$ and the monopole topology $π_2(S^2)$. With this we propose to classify the skyrmions by two topological numbers $(m,n)$, the monopole number $m$ and the shell (radial) number $n$. In this scheme the popular (non spherically symmetric) skyrmions are classified as the $(m,1)$ skyrmions but the spherically symmetric skyrmions are classified as the $(1,n)$ skyrmions, and the baryon number $B$ is given by $B=mn$. Mo…
We study a Skyrme-type model with a quadratic potential for a field with $S^2$ vacua. We consider two flavors of the model, the first is the Skyrme model and the second has a sixth-order derivative term instead of the Skyrme term; both with the added quadratic potential. The model contains molecules of half Skyrmions, each of them is a global (anti-)monopole with baryon number 1/2. We numerically construct solutions with baryon numbers one through six, and find stable solutions which look like beads on rings. We also construct a molecule with fractional Skyrmions having the baryon numbers 1/3 …
Recently it has been found that the structure of Skyrmions has a close analogy to that of fullerene shells in carbon chemistry. In this letter we show that this analogy continues further, by presenting a Skyrme field that describes a lattice of Skyrmions with hexagonal symmetry. This configuration, a novel `domain wall' in the Skyrme model, has low energy per baryon (about 6% above the Faddeev-Bogomolny bound) and in many ways is analogous to graphite. By comparison to the energy per baryon of other known Skyrmions and also the Skyrme crystal, we discuss the possibility of finding Skyrmion she…
The finite energy vibrational normal modes of the baryon number B=7 Skyrme soliton are computed. The structure of the spectrum obtained displays considerable similarity to those previously calculated for baryon numbers 2, 3 and 4. All modes expected from an approximate correspondence between skyrmions and BPS monopoles are found to be present. However, in contrast to earlier calculations, they do not all have energies below the pion mass. The remaining `breather-type' modes also conform to predictions, except that one predicted multiplet is not observed.
The Skyrme model is a low-energy effective field theory for QCD, where the baryons emerge as soliton solutions. It is, however, not so easy within the standard Skyrme model to reproduce the almost exact linear growth of the nuclear masses with the baryon number (topological charge), due to the lack of Bogomolny solutions in this model, which has also hindered analytical progress. Here we identify a submodel within the Skyrme-type low energy effective action which does have a Bogomolny bound and exact Bogomolny solutions, and therefore, at least at the classical level, reproduces the nuclear ma…
The spin-flavor structure of large N baryons is described in the 1/N expansion of QCD using quark operators. The complete set of quark operator identities is obtained, and used to derive an operator reduction rule which simplifies the 1/N expansion. The operator reduction rule is applied to the axial currents, masses, magnetic moments and hyperon non-leptonic decay amplitudes in the $SU(3)$ limit, to first order in $SU(3)$ breaking, and without assuming $SU(3)$ symmetry. The connection between the Skyrme and quark representations is discussed. An explicit formula is given for the quark model o…
We show that any solution of the SU(2) Skyrme model can be used to give a topologically trivial solution of the SU(4) one. In addition, we extend the method introduced by Houghton et al. and use harmonic maps from S2 to CP(N-1) to construct low energy configurations of the SU(N) Skyrme models. We show that one of such maps gives an exact, topologically trivial, solution of the SU(3) model. We study various properties of these maps and show that, in general, their energies are only marginally higher than the energies of the corresponding SU(2) embeddings. Moreover, we show that the baryon (and …
Recently it has been pointed out that the skyrmions carry two independent topology, the baryon topology and the monopole topology. We provide more evidence to support this. In specific, we prove that the baryon number $B$ can be decomposed to the monopole number $m$ and the shell number $n$, so that $B$ is given by $B=mn$. This tells that the skyrmions may more conveniently be classified by two integers $(m,n)$. This is because the rational map which determines the baryon number in the popular multi-skyrmion solutions actually describes the monopole topology $π_2(S^2)$ which is different from …
The Skyrme crystal is built up of repeating units similar to the cubic Skyrmion of baryon number 4. Using this as guide, we construct new Skyrmion solutions in the massive pion case, with various baryon numbers up to 108. Most of our solutions resemble chunks of the Skyrme crystal. They are constructed using a multi-layer version of the rational map ansatz to create initial configurations, which are then relaxed numerically to find the energy minima. The coefficients of the rational maps are found by a geometrical construction related to the Skyrme crystal structure. We find some further solut…
We study the composite Skyrme model, proposed by Cheung and Gürsey, introducing vector mesons in a chiral Lagrangian. We calculate the static properties of baryons and compare with results obtained from models without vector mesons.
We consider the classical static soliton solutions of the Skyrme model with false vacuum potential. We make use of fully three-dimensional relaxation calculations to construct global energy minimizers in the sectors of topological degrees from $Q=1$ to $Q=6$. These solutions may be metastable, they contain a domain of true vacuum inside the core. Further, we explore small regions of negative topological charge density which appear for the Skyrmions of degrees $Q=3,5,6$.
An omega-meson extension of the Skyrme model - without the Skyrme term but including the pion mass - first considered by Adkins and Nappi is studied in detail for baryon numbers 1 to 8. The static problem is reformulated as a constrained energy minimisation problem within a natural geometric framework and studied analytically on compact domains, and numerically on Euclidean space. Using a constrained second-order Newton flow algorithm, classical energy minimisers are constructed for various values of the omega-pion coupling. At high coupling, these Skyrmion solutions are qualitatively similar …
Based on the $ϕ$-mapping topological current theory, we show that the presence of the black hole leaves fractional baryon charge outside the horizon in the Einstein-Skyrme theory. A topological current is derived from the Einstein-Skyrme system, which corresponds to the monopoles around the black hole. The branch process (splitting, merging and intersection) is simply discussed during the evolution of the monopoles.
It is known that including vector mesons stabilizes the size of a Skyrmion without the need for a Skyrme term. This paper provides the first results for static multi-Skyrmions in such a theory. The rational map ansatz is used to investigate multi-Skyrmions in a theory which includes the omega vector meson and has no Skyrme term. Bound states with baryon numbers two, three and four are found, which have axial, tetrahedral and cubic symmetries, respectively. The results reveal a qualitative similarity with the standard Skyrme model with a Skyrme term and no vector mesons, suggesting that some fe…
We analyze the vector meson formulation of the BPS Skyrme model in (3+1) dimensions, where the term of sixth power in first derivatives characteristic for the original, integrable BPS Skyrme model (the topological or baryon current squared) is replaced by a coupling between the vector meson $ω_μ$ and the baryon current. We find that the model remains integrable in the sense of generalized integrability and almost solvable (reducible to a set of two first order ODEs) for any value of the baryon charge. Further, we analyze the appearance of topological solitons for two one-parameter families of …
We present a concrete model of a low energy effective field theory of QCD, the well-known Skyrme Model. Specifically, we will work with the BPS submodel in order to describe the binding energies of nuclei. This BPS Skyrme model is characterized by having a saturated bound for the energy proportional to the baryon number of the nuclei. After presenting this classical result, we will proceed with a semi-classical quantization of the coordinates of spin and isospin. Then, with the further inclusion of the Coulomb interaction as well as a small explicit breaking of the isospin symmetry, we finally…
An approach to realize a hyperon as a bound-state of a two-flavor baryon and a kaon is considered in the context of the Sakai-Sugimoto model of holographic QCD, which approach has been known in the Skyrme model as the bound-state approach to strangeness. As a simple case of study, pseudo-scalar kaon is considered as fluctuation around a baryon. In this case, strongly-bound hyperon-states are absent, different from the case of the Skyrme model. Observed is a weak bound-state which would correspond to Λ(1405).
Recently, it has been shown that (4+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory may be written as a (3+1)-dimensional BPS Skyrme model, in which the Skyrme field is coupled to an infinite tower of vector mesons. Truncating this tower to a single vector meson yields an extension of the standard Skyrme model to a theory of pions coupled to the rho meson, with the significant simplification that no additional free parameters are introduced. The present paper is concerned with this truncated theory and results are presented for Skyrmions with baryon numbers one to four. The approach involves the use of an ex…
We use a prescription to gauge the su(2) Skyrme model with a U(1) field, characterised by a conserved Baryonic current. This model reverts to the usual Skyrme model in the limit of the gauge coupling constant vanishing. We show that there exist axially symmetric static solutions with zero magnetic charge, which can be electrically either charged or uncharged. The energies of the (uncharged) gauged Skyrmions are less than the energy of the (usual) ungauged Skyrmion. For physical values of the parameters the impact of the U(1) field is very small, so that it can be treated as a perturbation to t…
In the Skyrme model with massless pions, the minimal energy multi-Skyrmions are shell-like, with the baryon density localized on the edges of a polyhedron that is approximately spherical and generically of the fullerene-type. In this paper we show that in the Skyrme model with massive pions these configurations are unstable for sufficiently large baryon number. Using numerical simulations of the full nonlinear field theory, we show that these structures collapse to form qualitatively different stable Skyrmion solutions. These new Skyrmions have a flat structure and display a clustering phenome…
In the Skyrme model, the Lagrangian can be quantized in several ways using the collective coordinate approach. Not all of which produce quantum states that can be interpreted as physical particles. For example the SU(2) collective coordinate approach produces both integral and half-integral spin and isospin states. Only half of these are the physical baryons. Less well known is the fact that it is equally possible to quantize the system using the SO(3) collective coordinates. This produces only unphysical integral spin and isospin states. To fulfill the goal of being able to express a classica…
We discuss the similarities between BPS monopoles and Skyrmions, and point to an underlying connection in terms of rational maps between Riemann spheres. This involves the introduction of a new ansatz for Skyrme fields. We use this to construct good approximations to several known Skyrmions, including all the minimal energy configurations up to baryon number nine, and some new solutions such as a baryon number seventeen Skyrme field with the truncated icosahedron structure of a buckyball. The new approach is also used to understand the low-lying vibrational modes of Skyrmions, which are requir…
The Skyrme model is a non-linear field theory whose solitonic solutions, once quantised, describe atomic nuclei. The classical static soliton solutions, so-called Skyrmions, have interesting discrete symmetries and can only be calculated numerically. Mathematically, these Skyrmions can be viewed as maps between to two three-manifolds and, as such, their stable singularities can only be folds, cusps and swallowtails. Physically, the occurrence of singularities is related to negative baryon density. In this paper, we calculate the charge three Skyrmion to a high resolution in order to examine it…
