Dynamics of Skyrmion Collisions in 3 + 1 Dimensions

Abstract

We calculate classical skyrmion collisions in 3+1 dimensions. Numerical integration of Hamilton's equations for the chiral fields is based on a staggered leap-frog method. We study collisions of defensive hedgehog solitons at various impact parameters for center-of-mass energies of 157, 432, and 885 MeV. Internal excitations of the skyrmions and meson emission are observed. The time evolution of the pion field and momentum and baryon densities is shown, as are deflection functions and inelasticities. Some results for skyrmion-antiskyrmion annihilation are presented.