Negative baryon density and the folding structure of the B = 3 skyrmion

Abstract

The Skyrme model is a nonlinear field theory whose solitonic solutions, once quantized, describe atomic nuclei. The classical static soliton solutions, so-called skyrmions, have interesting symmetries and can only be calculated numerically. Mathematically, these skyrmions can be viewed as maps between 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 its singularity structure in detail. Thereby, we explore regions of negative baryon density. We also discuss how the negative baryon density depends on the pion mass.