Quantum skyrmion crystals and the symmetry energy of dense matter

Abstract

The canonical quantization method for collective coordinates in crystalline configurations of the generalized Skyrme model is applied in order to find the quantum ground state of skyrmion crystals and study the quantum corrections to the binding energy resulting from the isospin degrees of freedom. This leads to a consistent description of asymmetric nuclear matter within the Skyrme framework and allows us to compute the symmetry energy of the skyrmionic crystal as a function of the baryon density and to compare with recent observational constraints.