A BPS Skyrme model and baryons at large Nc

TL;DR

This paper explores a BPS Skyrme model that simplifies the Skyrme theory, reproduces nuclear liquid drop features, and improves its QCD relevance at large N_c by analyzing classical solutions and quantizing the nucleon.

Contribution

It introduces a BPS submodel of the Skyrme theory with a Bogomolny bound, classical soliton solutions, and quantization, enhancing the model's connection to nuclear physics and large N_c QCD.

Findings

The BPS Skyrme model admits solutions saturating the Bogomolny bound.

Classical solutions resemble liquid drop nuclear features.

Quantization of the nucleon is performed within the model.

Abstract

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 of the model as a low energy effective field theory for QCD is further improved in the limit of a large number of colors N_c.