The Quantum Skyrmion in Representations of General Dimension

Abstract

The representations of general dimension are constructed for the $SU(2)$ Skyrme model, treated quantum mechanically {\it ab initio. } This quantum Skyrme model has a negative mass term correction, that is not present in the classical Hamiltonian. The magnitude of the quantum mechanical mass correction increases with the dimension of the representation of the $SU(2)$ group. In the case of a 5-dimensional representation it is possible to obtain satisfactory predictions for the nucleon mass with the empirical value for the pion decay constant.