Vibrational quantisation of the B=7 Skyrmion

TL;DR

This paper enhances Skyrmion quantisation by including vibrational modes, predicting a specific ordering of nuclear states and their properties, aligning with experimental data and offering a distinctive signature of the Skyrme model.

Contribution

It introduces vibrational mode inclusion in B=7 Skyrmion quantisation, allowing for more accurate state ordering and properties prediction compared to rigid body models.

Findings

Spin 3/2 state below spin 7/2 state

Existence of low-lying spin 1/2 and two spin 5/2 states

Smaller charge radius for excited spin 7/2 state

Abstract

We consider the inclusion of the most important vibrational modes in the quantisation of the dodecahedral $B=7$ Skyrmion. In contrast to a rigid body quantisation, this formalism allows a spin $\frac{3}{2}$ state to lie below the spin $\frac{7}{2}$ state, in agreement with experimental data. There is also a low lying spin $\frac{1}{2}$ state and two spin $\frac{5}{2} $ states. We find that the excited spin $\frac{7}{2}$ state has a smaller root mean square charge radius than the other states. This prediction is an important signature of the Skyrme model, in conflict with more conventional nuclear models.