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# Different Behavior of Magnetic Impurities in Crystalline and Amorphous States of Superconductors

## 1. Introduction

It has been well appreciated among experimentalists that the effect of magnetic imputities in superconductors depends strongly on whether the host superconductor is in the crystalline state or in the amorphous state.1-13 For instance, the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease due to magnetic impurities turned out to be not universal but dependent on the sample quality and sample preparation methods. This was not well understood. Recently, Kim and Overhauser (KO)14 have proposed a theory of magnetic impurity effect on superconductors, which anticipates the above experimental observations. To summarize, they obtained the following results:

(1) The initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease due to magnetic impurities depends on the superconductor and therefore is not a universal constant.

(2) The reduction of $`T_c`$ by magnetic impurities is significantly lessened whenever the mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ becomes smaller than the BCS coherence length $`\xi _0`$.

The second result, called compensation phenomenon, has been observed by adding non-magnetic impurities1,2 and radiation damage.4,5,8 Indeed, Park, Lee, and Kim15 showed that the KO theory leads to a good fitting to the experimental data obtained from radiation damage.8 The first result is not easy to confirm experimentally for the following reasons. First, the initial slopes for the usual low $`T_c`$ superconductors are not much different. Second, it is not easy to control the contents of ordinary and magnetic impurities and the disorder in different superconductors.

In this study we combine the first and the second results to obtain the following result:

(1) As the system is getting disordered, the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ depression is decreasing by a factor $`\sqrt{\mathrm{}/\xi _0}`$. (This was not calculated in KO’s paper.)

This result agrees with the experimental fact that the observed initial decrease of $`T_c`$ for superconductors as a function of the concentration c of the magnetic ions is bigger in the crystalline state than that in the amorphous state of superconductors. In Table I, most of the values from the literature for the initial decrease of $`T_c`$ for the Zn-Mn system are listed, which shows this behavior spectacularly. Data are from Falke et al.13 As can be seen, the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease by magnetic impurities is not universal but dependent on the sample quality and sample preparation methods. Note that Zn-Mn alloys show all the Kondo anomalies at low temperatures.21

On the other hand, Porto and Parpia22 (and other workers23,24) have recently found that $`T_c`$ of superfluid He-3 in aerogel drops suddenly to zero around at 2.7 bar. The discovery has attracted much attention.25,26 We point out that this behavior may be understood in terms of the KO theory. In fact, the KO theory implies that if spin-disorder scattering only is taken into account, $`T_c`$ drops suddenly from about 50 $`\%`$ of $`T_{c0}`$ (for the pure metal) to zero near the critical impurity concentration. This may be called the pure limit behavior.7 However, KO didn’t expect the observability of this behavior in superconductors because the influence of the (neglected) potential scattering from the paramagnetic solutes was believed to be dramatic.14 This phenomenon was called self-compensation of the paramagnetic impurity effect. In other words, KO thought self-compensation will wash out the pure limit behavior. However, this conclusion is based on the assumption that the coherence length will decrease significantly even for $`\mathrm{}>\xi _0`$,14 which may not be valid. Whereas, in superfluid He-3 in aerogel, aerogel acts like impurities and decreases the transition temperature without disturbing the liquid state of He-3 significantly. So the pure limit behavior may be easily observable. (It is straightforward to apply the KO theory to p-wave pairing states.27 In Appendix A, the impurity effect on the ABM state is considered within the KO theory. More details will be published elsewhere.)

Another result of this study is about the observability of the pure limit behavior in superconductors:

(2) If the host superconductor in the presence of the magnetic impurities is pure enough for exchange scattering to dominate, then the pure limit behavior may be observable, i.e., $`T_c`$ drops suddenly from about 50 $`\%`$ of $`T_{c0}`$ (for the pure metal) to zero near the critical impurity concentration. Accordingly, it is desirable to add chemically-similar impurities to the host superconductor with much low $`T_c`$.

But, in general, the pure limit behavior in superconductors is hard to observe experimentally due to the potential scattering from the magnetic impurities, and the metallurgical problems related to a very small solubility of magnetic impurities in non-transition metals. Also adding many magnetic impurities may make the host superconductors disordered. Therefore, it is really remarkable that Roden and Zimmermeyer6 confirmed the pure limit behavior, in crystalline Cadmium doped with dilute Mn atoms by quench condensation. The reasons for their success seem to be the following: (1) since the $`T_c`$ of crystalline Cd is so low ($`T_c=0.9K`$), the critical impurity concentration is low ($`c_{cr}0.07at\%`$) enough not to disturb the crystalline state of Cd, (2) Mn atoms may not lead to strong potential scatterings in Cd. It is well known that sample preparation of thin-film alloys by evaporation on cold substrates (quench condensation) is suitable for producing alloys between otherwise insoluble components. They prepared (micro)crystalline and amorphous cadmium with dilute Mn impurities. Remarkably, they found that a quench-condensed film of cadmium in the microcrystalline state shows an abrupt decrease of the transition temperature near the critical impurity concentration.

In this paper we use the KO theory to explain the difference of the magnetic impurity effect in crystalline and amorphous states of superconductors. The pure limit behavior in superconductors and the change of the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ depression due to disorder are investigated. We find a good agreement with the existing experimental data. A brief review of experimental works is given in Sec. 2, while the KO theory is described in Sec. 3. Comparison with various experimental data is given in Sec. 4. In an Appendix the KO theory is extended to the p-wave pairing state for superfluid He-3 in aerogel.

## 2. Magnetic Impurity Effect in Crystalline and Amorphous States of Superconductors

In this Section, the experimental data for the effect of magnetic impurities in a crystalline and an amorphous state of superconductors are briefly reviewed. Although there are already a few review articles on magnetic impurity effect in superconductors,28,29 this topic was not spotlighted before, simply because the experimental data were not understood. Nevertheless, it was observed by many experimentalists that the magnetic impurity effects are different for crystalline and amorphous states of superconductors. To illustrate, the initial decrease of $`T_c`$ for some superconductors as a function of the concentration c of the magnetic ions is summarized in Table II. The Table is from Buckel,10 Wassermann,3 and Schwidtal.30 It is clear that the initial $`T_c`$ decrease depends on the sample quality and is not the universal constant suggested by Abrikosov and Gor’kov.31 Note that In-Mn,4,5,8 Sn-Mn,33 Zn-Mn,13 and Cd-Mn40 show the Kondo anomalies at low temperatures.

Merriam, Liu, and Seraphim1 were the first who found the difference. They investigated the effect of dissolved Mn on superconductivity of pure and impure In. They observed that the addition of a third element, Pb or Sn, progressively decreases the effect of Mn and eliminates the effect completely when the mean free path is decreased sufficiently enough. In other words, the $`T_c`$ depression arising from a paramagnetic solute turned out to be mean-free-path dependent. Boato, Gallinaro, and Rizzuto2 confirmed the result. It was also found that $`T_c`$ depression by transition metal impurities in bulk metals and thin films leads very often to different results.3 For instance, broad scattering of the experimental $`dT_c/dc`$ values was frequently obtained, presumably due to the differences in the degree of disorder. A review was given by Wassermann.3 On the other hand, Falke et al.13 investigated transition temperature depression in quench condensed Zn-Mn dilute alloy films and compared it with bulk data. Their work gives good support to the equivalence of thin films and bulk material. To put it another way, even though the initial $`T_c`$ depression caused by magnetic impurities may be different for thin films and bulk material, a magnetic impurity may possess a stable magnetic moment whether it is in thin films or in bulk material. Bauriedl and Heim4 noted that the reason for the different behavior of a magnetic impurity in crystalline and disordered materials is lattice disorder. The authors considered annealed In films implanted with 150 keV-Mn ions at low temperatures and increased the lattice disorder by pre-implantation of In ions, which led to the variation of the initial $`T_c`$-depression between 26 K/at $`\%`$ for the crystalline sample and 10 K/at $`\%`$ for the heavily disordered sample. Hitzfeld and Heim5 reported that the magnetic state of Mn in ion implanted In-Mn alloys is not so much affected by incorporating oxygen (lattice disorder) but the superconducting properties changes significantly, in agreement with Falke et al.13: -d$`T_c`$/dc is changed from 24 to 18 K/at$`\%`$ if oxygen is added. Schlabitz and Zaplinski7 reported on the influence of lattice defects on the $`T_c`$-depression in dilute Zn-Mn single crystals. Their measurements also show a much higher depression of $`T_c`$ for single crystals than for cold-rolled crystals and quench-condensed films. Hofmann, Bauriedl, and Ziemann8 also observed compensation of the paramagnetic impurity effect as a consequence of radiation damage. Well annealed In-films implanted at low temperatures with Mn ions lead to an initial slope of 50 K/at $`\%`$, whereas In-films irradiated with high fluences of Ar ions before the Mn-implantation lead to a slope of 39 K/at $`\%`$. In addition, 90$`\%`$ of the 2.2 K decrease in $`T_c`$ caused by Mn-implantation was suppressed by an Ar fluence of 2.2$`\times `$ $`10^{16}cm^2`$. Habisreuther et al.9 reported on an in situ low-temperature ion-implantation study of Mn in crystalline $`\beta `$-Ga and amorphous $`a`$-Ga films. They found linear $`T_c`$ decreases in $`a`$Ga films with a slope of 3.4 K/at $`\%`$ and in $`\beta `$Ga films with a slope of 7.0 K/at $`\%`$, (i.e., twice as large as in $`a`$Ga). Recently, Chervenak and Valles11 investigated magnetic impurity effect in ultrathin, homogeneous $`Pb_{0.9}Bi_{0.1}`$ films with $`150\mathrm{\Omega }<R_N<2.2k\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`6.0K>T_c>2.35K`$. Here $`R_N`$ denotes the normal-state sheet resistance. They found that the effect of magnetic impurities on $`T_c`$ decreases with increasing disorder for $`4K<T_c<6K`$, in agreement with other experiments. Terris and Ginsberg12 noted the different electron-tunneling characteristics in superconducting quench-condensed and annealed manganese-doped zinc films.

Furthermore, Roden and Zimmermeyer6 considered crystalline and amorphous cadmium with dilute Mn atoms. In the first case the initial depression of $`T_c`$ is $`dT_c/dc`$=5.4 K/at $`\%`$ and in the second case $`dT_c/dc`$=2.65 K/at $`\%`$ in accordance with other results. Surprisingly, a sudden drop of $`T_c`$ in crystalline cadmium near the critical concentration was observed. About 50 $`\%`$ of $`T_{c0}`$ was decreased to zero by adding additional tiny amounts of Mn atoms in the (micro)crystalline state, which is consistent with the KO theory. Since the transition temperature of pure Cd in the crystalline state is 0.9 K $`(T_{c0})`$, the critical Mn impurity concentration is so low ($``$ 0.075 at $`\%`$) that the crystalline state is not much disturbed by Mn atoms. Consequently, the pure limit behavior of magnetic impurity effect was observable. Zimmermeyer and Roden41 also found the similar behavior in microcrystalline films of lead doped with Mn, but with a peak just before $`T_c`$ drops to zero suddenly. The critical concentration is $``$ 0.4 at $`\%`$. In this case, since the initial $`T_c`$ depression is not linear as a function of Mn concentration, there seems to be some solubility problem.

## 3. Theory of Kim and Overhauser

### 3.1 Ground state wavefunction

For a homogeneous system, the BCS wavefunction is given by42,43

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }=\underset{k}{}(u_k+v_ka_k^{}a_k^{})\varphi _0$$
(1)
where the operator $`a_{k\alpha }^{}`$ creates an electron in the state $`(k\alpha )`$ (with the energy $`ϵ_k`$) when operating on the vacuum state designated by $`\varphi _0`$. Note that $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ is an approximation of $`\varphi _N`$,

$$\varphi _N=A[\varphi (r_1r_2)\mathrm{}\varphi (r_{N1}r_N)(1)(2)\mathrm{}(N1)(N)]$$
(2)
where

$$\varphi (r)=\underset{k}{}\frac{v_k}{u_k}e^{i𝐤𝐫}$$
(3)
and both wavefunctions lead to the same result for a large system. Nevertheless, $`\varphi _N`$ is more helpful for understanding the underlying physics related to the magnetic impurity effect in superconductors: we are concerned with a bound state of Cooper pairs in a BCS condensate. It should be noticed that the (bounded) pair wavefunction $`\varphi (r)`$ and the BCS pair-correlation amplitude $`I(r)^{42}`$ are basically the same for large N:

$$\varphi (r)=\underset{k}{}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_k}{ϵ_k+E_k}e^{i𝐤𝐫},$$
(4)
$$I(r)=\underset{k}{}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_k}{2E_k}e^{i𝐤𝐫}\mathrm{\Delta }K_0(\frac{r}{\pi \xi _0}),$$
(5)
where

$$E_k=\sqrt{ϵ_k^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_k^2}.$$
(6)
Here $`K_0`$ is a modified Bessel function which decays rapidly when $`r>\pi \xi _0`$.

In the presence of magnetic impurities, BCS pairing must employ degenerate partners which have the exchange scattering (due to magnetic impurities) built in because the strength of exchange scattering $`J`$ is much larger than the binding energy. This scattered state representation was first introduced by Anderson44 in his theory of dirty superconductors. Accordingly, the corresponding wavefunctions are

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi ^{}}=\underset{n}{}(u_n+v_na_n^{}a_{\overline{n}}^{})\varphi _0$$
(7)
and

$$\varphi _N^{}=A[\varphi ^{}(r_1,r_2)\varphi ^{}(r_3,r_4)\mathrm{}\varphi ^{}(r_{N1},r_N)]$$
(8)
where

$$\varphi ^{}(r_1,r_2)=\underset{n}{}\frac{v_n}{u_n}\psi _n(r_1)\psi _{\overline{n}}(r_2).$$
(9)
Here $`\psi _n`$ and $`\psi _{\overline{n}}`$ denote the exact eigenstate and its degenerate partner, respectively. It is clear from the pair wavefunction $`\varphi ^{}(r_1,r_2)`$ that only the magnetic impurities within $`\xi _0`$ of a Cooper pair’s center of mass can diminish the pairing interaction.

### 3.2 Phonon-mediated matrix element

Now we need to determine the scattered state $`\psi _n`$ and the phonon-mediated matrix element $`V_{nn^{}}`$. The magnetic interaction between a conduction electron at $`𝐫`$ and a magnetic impurity (having spin $`𝐒`$), located at $`𝐑_i`$, is given by

$$H_m(𝐫)=J𝐬𝐒_iv_o\delta (𝐫𝐑_i),$$
(10)
where $`𝐬=\frac{1}{2}\sigma `$ and $`v_o`$ is the atomic volume. The scattered basis state which carries the label, $`n\alpha =\stackrel{}{k}\alpha `$, is then

$$\psi _{n\alpha =\stackrel{}{k}\alpha }=N_\stackrel{}{k}[e^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{r}}\alpha +\underset{\stackrel{}{q}}{}e^{i(\stackrel{}{k}+\stackrel{}{q})\stackrel{}{r}}(W_{\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q}}\beta +W_{\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q}}^{^{}}\alpha )],$$
(11)
where,

$$W_{\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q}}=\frac{\frac{1}{2}J\overline{S}v_o}{ϵ_\stackrel{}{k}ϵ_{\stackrel{}{k}+\stackrel{}{q}}}\underset{j}{}sin\chi _je^{i\varphi _ji\stackrel{}{q}𝐑_j}$$
(12)
and,

$$W_{\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q}}^{}=\frac{\frac{1}{2}J\overline{S}v_o}{ϵ_\stackrel{}{k}ϵ_{\stackrel{}{k}+\stackrel{}{q}}}\underset{j}{}cos\chi _je^{i\stackrel{}{q}𝐑_j}.$$
(13)
$`\chi _j`$ and $`\varphi _j`$ are the polar and azimuthal angles of the spin $`𝐒_j`$ at $`𝐑_j`$ and $`\overline{S}=\sqrt{S(S+1)}`$. The perturbed basis state for the degenerate partner of (11) is:

$$\psi _{\overline{n}\beta =\stackrel{}{k}\beta }=N_\stackrel{}{k}[e^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{r}}\beta +\underset{\stackrel{}{q}}{}e^{i(\stackrel{}{k}+\stackrel{}{q})\stackrel{}{r}}(W_{\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q}}^{}\alpha W_{\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q}}^{{}_{}{}^{}}\beta )].$$
(14)
At each point $`\stackrel{}{r}`$, the two spins of the degenerate partner become canted by the mixing of the plane wave and spherical-wavelet component. Consequently, the BCS condensate is forced to have a triplet component because of the canting caused by the exchange scattering. The phonon-mediated matrix element between the canted basis pairs is (to order $`J^2`$)

$$V_{nn^{}}V_{\stackrel{}{k}^{}\stackrel{}{k}}=V<cos\theta _\stackrel{}{k}^{}(\stackrel{}{r})><cos\theta _\stackrel{}{k}(\stackrel{}{r})>,$$
(15)
where $`\theta `$ is the canting angle. The angular brackets indicate both a spatial and impurity average. It is then given

$$<cos\theta _\stackrel{}{k}(\stackrel{}{r})>12|W_\stackrel{}{k}|^2,$$
(16)
where $`|W_\stackrel{}{k}|^2`$ is the relative probability contained in the virtual spherical waves surrounding the magnetic solutes (compared to the plane-wave part). From Eqs. (11)-(13) we obtain

$$|W_\stackrel{}{k}|^2=\frac{J^2m^2\overline{S}^2c_mR}{8\pi n\mathrm{}^4},$$
(17)
where $`c_m`$ is the magnetic solute fraction. Because the pair-correlation amplitude falls exponentially as $`exp(r/\pi \xi _0)`$42 at $`T=0`$ and as $`exp(r/3.5\xi _0)`$45 near $`T_c`$, we set

$$R=\frac{3.5}{2}\xi _0.$$
(18)
Then one finds

$$<cos\theta >=1\frac{3.5\xi _0}{2\mathrm{}_s},$$
(19)
where $`\mathrm{}_s=v_F\tau _s`$ is the mean free path for exchange scattering only.

### 3.3 BCS $`T_c`$ equation

The resulting BCS gap equation, near $`T_c`$, is given by

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }_\stackrel{}{k}}=\underset{\stackrel{}{k}^{}}{}\overline{V_{\stackrel{}{k},\stackrel{}{k}^{}}}\frac{\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }_\stackrel{}{k}^{}}}{2\overline{ϵ_\stackrel{}{k}^{}}}tanh(\frac{\overline{ϵ_\stackrel{}{k}^{}}}{2T}).$$
(20)
Here $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }_\stackrel{}{k}}`$ is the impurity averaged value of the gap parameter whereas $`\overline{ϵ_\stackrel{}{k}}`$ is that of the electron energy. The BCS $`T_c`$ equation still applies after a modification of the effective coupling constant according to Eq. (15):

$$\lambda _{eff}=\lambda <cos\theta >^2,$$
(21)
where $`\lambda `$ is $`N_oV.`$ Accordingly, the BCS $`T_c`$ equation is now,

$$k_BT_c=1.13\mathrm{}\omega _De^{\frac{1}{\lambda _{eff}}}.$$
(22)
The initial slope is given

$$k_B(\mathrm{\Delta }T_c)\frac{0.63\mathrm{}}{\lambda \tau _s}.$$
(23)
The factor $`1/\lambda `$ shows that the initial slope depends on the superconductor and is not a universal constant. For an extended range of solute concentration, KO find

$$<cos\theta >=\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{2}[1+5(\frac{u}{2})^2]^1e^{2u},$$
(24)
where

$$u3.5\xi _{eff}/2\mathrm{}_s.$$
(25)
We have replaced $`\xi _0`$ by the effective coherence length $`\xi _{eff}`$ which is explained below.

### 3.4 Change of the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease

When the conduction electrons have a mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ which is smaller than the coherence length $`\xi _0`$ (for a pure superconductor), the effective coherence length is

$$\xi _{eff}\sqrt{\mathrm{}\xi _0}.$$
(26)
For a superconductor which has ordinary impurities as well as magnetic impurities, the total mean-free path $`\mathrm{}`$ is given by

$$\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}=\frac{1}{\mathrm{}_s}+\frac{1}{\mathrm{}_0},$$
(27)
where $`\mathrm{}_0`$ is the mean free path for the potential scattering. It is evident from Eq. (26) that the potential scattering profoundly affects the paramagnetic impurity effect. Consequently, the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ depression is decreased in the following way:

$$k_B(\mathrm{\Delta }T_c)\frac{0.63\mathrm{}}{\lambda \tau _s}\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{}}{\xi _0}}.$$
(28)
This explains the broad scattering of the experimental $`dT_c/dc`$ values. In other words, the size of the Cooper pair is reduced by the potential scattering and the reduced Cooper pair sees a smaller number of magnetic impurities. Accordingly, the magnetic impurity effect is partially suppressed, leading to the decrease of the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ depression.

Figure 1 shows the different behavior of the $`T_c`$ depression due to magnetic impurities in the pure crystalline state and in the amorphous or disordered state of superconductors. We used $`T_{co}=1.0K`$, $`v_F=1.5\times 10^8cm/sec`$, and $`\omega _D=250K`$. We also assumed the relation between $`\mathrm{}_s`$ and magnetic impurity concentration c: $`\mathrm{}_s=10^5/c(\AA )`$. Here $`c`$ is measured in at $`\%`$. Since the exchange scattering cross-section is usually 20-200 times smaller than that for the potential scattering,14 this assumption seems to be reasonable. For the pure crystalline state $`T_c`$ drops to zero suddenly when $`T_c`$ is decreased to about 50 % of $`T_{c0}`$ of the pure system, which may be called pure limit behavior. As the mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ is decreased due to disorder, the initial $`T_c`$ depression is weakened and $`T_c`$ drops to zero more slowly near the critical concentration.

## 4. Comparison with Experiment

The overall agreement between KO theory and the existing experimental data is very good. We focus on the experiments which investigated the difference of the magnetic impurity effect in pure crystalline state and amorphous or disordered state of superconductors. In cases where mean free paths for the exchange and potential scattering were not available, we consulted other experiments and the well known normal state transport properties. Note that exchange coefficients J are $`0.1eV`$ and the strength $`U_0`$ of the potential scattering is typically $`1eV`$.14,31 One should also note the possibility of inhomogeneity in quench-condensed amorphous films.46,47 In that case the residual resistivity and the mean free path may not represent well the degree of the disorder in the system. Then our comparison with experimental data is somewhat qualitative.

### 4.1 Pure limit behavior: Roden and Zimmermeyer’s Experiment

Roden and Zimmermeyer6 prepared alloys of Cd with dilute Mn impurities by quench condensation. Quench condensation produces a variety of states of the alloy: in particular, one can get a microcrystalline and an amorphous state. A quench-condensed film of Cd in the microcrystalline state shows a higher $`T_c`$ ($`=0.9K`$) than the bulk material ($`T_c=0.55K`$) and a further increase of $`T_c`$ ($`=1.15K`$) is obtained in the amorphous state. Amorphous Cd film was obtained by adding Cu atoms. Like other nontransition metals deposited in an ordinary high-vacuum system, quench-condensed Cd film is crystalline with small crystallites.46

Now we compare KO theory with Roden and Zimmermeyer’s experiment. Figure 2 shows $`T_c`$ versus magnetic impurity concentration c in the microcrystalline CdMn. The solid line is theoretical curve obtained from Eq. (22). The transition temperature $`T_{c0}`$ of pure Cd in this state is 0.9K. While the initial depression of $`T_c`$ is linear in c with a value of $`dT_c/dc=5.4K/at\%`$, above 0.05$`\%`$ the depression becomes much more stronger than linear, which agrees with KO theory. Arrows denote that no superconductivity was found up to 70mK. For theoretical fitting we used $`T_{c0}=0.904K`$, $`\omega _D=209K`$, and $`v_F=1.62\times 10^8cm/sec`$.48 We emphasize that there is no free parameter. But, in the absence of experimental data we assumed $`\mathrm{}_s=9\times 10^5/c(\AA )`$, which is reasonable since $`J0.1eV`$. As can be seen, the agreement between the experimental data and the theoretical curve is very good.

It is of interest to compare pure limit behaviors in superconductors and superfluid He-3 in aerogel.22-26 Porto and Parpia22 reported measurement of the transition temperature of He-3 confined within 98.2 $`\%`$ open aerogel. They observed that $`T_c`$ is suppressed strongly and drops suddenly to zero at 2.7 bars. Figure 3 shows the superfluid transition temperature of He-3 in aerogel at various pressures. This behavior may also be understood in terms of KO theory. In Appendix A, we apply the KO theory to the ABM state and show that the same pure limit behavior follows for the p-wave pairing states with (ordinary) impurities.

Figure 4 shows $`T_c`$ vs. c for the amorphous CdCuMn. The solid line was obtained from Eqs. (22) and (26). The decrease of $`T_c`$ for smaller c is again linear but with a much lower $`dT_c/dc=2.65K/at\%`$. In the amorphous state $`T_{c0}`$ is about 1.18K. Since the residual resistivity data are not available, we assumed that the mean free path for the potential scattering is $`\mathrm{}_0=4500\AA `$. This value is a little bit bigger than expected in homogeneous disordered systems. Note that amorphous Cd films show considerably rounded transition curves which indicate inhomogeneity in samples.46 We used the same avalues for $`\omega _D`$ and $`v_F`$ as in Fig. 2. Again we find a good fitting to experimental data.

### 4.2 Change of the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ depression

Schlabitz and Zaplinski7 reported measurements of the $`T_c`$-depression of ZnMn single crystals. In particular, they investigated the influence of lattice defects on the $`T_c`$-depression in dilute ZnMn single crystals. They demonstrated linear behavior up to a concentration of 10 ppm with a slope of 630 K/at$`\%`$. This value is twice that of other measurements. As a result, they suggested that the $`T_c`$-depression can be enhanced strongly by eliminating the lattice defects.

Figure 5 shows the reduced transition temperature, $`T_c/T_{c0}`$, as a function of Mn concentration for ZnMn samples. The dashed lines, taken from the other measurements,13 give the $`T_c`$-depression of: a) quench-condensed films, and b) cold rolled bulk material. The filled points represent the $`T_c`$-values of the ZnMn single crystals. The filled squares are the data of quench condensed thin films, while the filled triangles are the data of quench condensed thin films after annealing at $`300K`$ for 14 hours. Since annealing leads to an increased order of the lattice,46 it is clear that the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease is decreasing as the system is getting disordered.

The solid line is the theoretical curve obtained from the initial slope, $`dT_c/dc=630K/at\%`$ with $`T_{c0}=0.9K`$:

$$k_BT_ck_BT_{c0}\frac{0.63\mathrm{}}{\lambda \tau _s}.$$
(29)
This expression agrees very well with the exact BCS $`T_c`$ equation, Eq. (22), up to 25 $`\%`$ of the critical impurity concentration. The dashed lines (a) and (b) can also be reproduced from the theoretical formula, Eq. (28),

$$k_BT_ck_BT_{c0}\frac{0.63\mathrm{}}{\lambda \tau _s}\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{}}{\xi _0}},$$
(30)
for the initial $`T_c`$ depression in the disordered state of superconductors with $`(a)\mathrm{}=3390\AA ,T_{c0}=1.51K`$,13 and $`(b)\mathrm{}=7520\AA ,T_{c0}=0.83K`$,13 respectively. Here $`T_{c0}`$ values are the experimental results.13 Note that quench condensed amorphous Zn films also show significantly rounded transition curves,46 which explains somewhat bigger value for the mean free path of curve (a). But for curve (b) our mean free path value is reasonable compared to dilute ZnMn alloys data.2,21 Therefore, the change of the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease may be explained in terms of the change of the Cooper pair size caused by the disorder. We used $`\omega _D=327K`$, and $`v_F=1.82\times 10^8cm/sec`$.48 The sudden drop of $`T_c`$ near the critical concentration is not pronounced though, presumably because of the smallness of the critical concentration. Since there are not many magnetic imputities in the Zn matrix, the distribution of Mn may be atomically disperse but macroscopically inhomogeneous. Then, the pure limit behavior may not be observable.

Bauriedl and Heim5 investigated the influence of lattice disorder on the magnetic properties of InMn alloys. Crystalline In films were implanted by Mn ions. The amount of lattice disorder was changed in a very controlled way by pre-implantation of indium with its own ions, which was very effective in producing disordered films.

Figure 6 shows the transition temperatures for InMn alloys with increasing lattice disorder from 1 to 3 by pre-implantation of $`In^+`$ ions: 1 0ppm; 2 2660ppm; 3 18,710ppm. These ions have an intensive damaging effect, resulting in an increased residual resistivity and an enhanced transition temperature $`T_{c0}`$.5 Notice that the initial slope decreases as the system is more disordered. The solid lines are the theoretical results from Eq. (28) with $`1\mathrm{}=1050\AA `$, $`2\mathrm{}=700\AA `$ and $`3\mathrm{}=150\AA `$. Since the residual resistivity of sample 1 is about $`0.62\mu \mathrm{\Omega }cm(\pm 20\%)`$,8 we can obtain $`\mathrm{}=1050\AA `$. The mean free paths for samples 2 and 3 are also consistent with the related experiment.49 It is necessary to emphasize that the change of the initial slope due to the enhanced $`T_{c0}`$ (Eq. (23)) is not enough to explain the experimental data. We assumed the initial slope $`dT_c/dc=53K/at\%`$ for a pure system.36 We also used $`\omega _D=108K`$ and $`v_F=1.74\times 10^8`$.48 We find good agreements between theory and experiment.

Finally, Habisreuther et al.9 investigated the magnetic behavior of Mn in crystalline $`\beta `$Ga and amorphous $`a`$Ga films. Mn ions were implanted at low temperature ($`T<10K`$). The amorphous $`a`$Ga exhibits a rather high transition temperature with typical values between 8.1 and 8.4 K, while the crystalline $`\beta `$Ga phase shows transition temperature of $`T_c=6.3K`$.

Figure 7 shows changes of the superconducting transition temperature $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c`$ produced by Mn implantation into amorphous $`a`$Ga films and crystalline $`\beta `$Ga films as a function of the impurity concentrations. Note that the initial slope 3.4 K/at $`\%`$ in amorphous $`a`$Ga is about half of that (7.0 K/at $`\%`$) in crystalline $`\beta `$Ga films. Theoretical curves represent the initial slope formulas, Eq. (23) and (28) with $`dT_c/dc=7K/at\%`$, $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}`$ for $`\beta `$Ga, and with $`dT_c/dc=7K/at\%`$, $`\mathrm{}=600\AA `$ for $`a`$Ga. We used $`\omega _D=320K`$ and $`v_F=1.91\times 10^8cm/sec`$.48 A good fitting to the experimental data is obtained.

## 5. Discussion

It is clear that a systematic experimental study of the effect of magnetic impurities in crystalline and amorphous superconductors is necessary. In particular, the pure limit behavior in a crystalline state of superconductors and the change of the initial slope due to disordering need more careful studies. This study may shed a new light on the old question of whether a transition metal impurity possesses a stable local magnetic moment within a metallic host.50

The observed pure limit behavior in the superfluid He-3 in aerogel may be compared with that in crystalline superconductors including Cd. In superfluid He-3 aerogel does not disturb the liquid state of He-3 significantly, whereas in superconductors adding magnetic impurities may damage the crystalline state of the superconductors, resulting in the difficulty in observing the pure limit behavior.

In our theoretical fitting in most cases we guessed the mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ because the experimental residual resistivity data were not available. If the residual resistivity is given, the mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ can be determined from the Drude formula. It is interesting to note that the initial $`T_c`$ depression also provides a way to estimate the mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ in disordered superconductors except inhomogeneous amorphous samples.

In this study, weak-coupling BCS theory is used to investigate the effect of magnetic impurities in superconductors. It is straightforward to extend this study to the strong-coupling theory.51,52 To do that, pairing of the degenerate scattered state partners is also needed.53 The result will then basically be the same as that of the weak-coupling theory. More details will be published elsewhere. Actually Jarrel54 numerically calculated from the Eliashberg equations the initial depression of the $`T_c`$ due to a small concentration of magnetic impurities and found that the initial depression depends strongly upon the electron-phonon coupling constant $`\lambda `$, in agreement with the KO theory.

## 6. Conclusion

The effect of magnetic impurities in crystalline and amorphous states of superconductors has been studied theoretically. The pure limit behavior in crystalline Cd observed by Roden and Zimmermeyer and the decrease of the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ depression due to disorder have been explained. In particular, the initial slope of the $`T_c`$ decrease is decreasing by a factor $`\sqrt{\mathrm{}/\xi _0}`$ as the system is getting disordered. We suggest that a more systematic experimental investigation is necessary for the different behavior of the magnetic impurities in crystalline and amorphous superconductors.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Y.J.K. is grateful to Prof. C. Bulutay for discussions. M. Park thanks the FOPI at the University of Puerto Rico-Humacao for release time.

APPENDIX A

The purpose of this appendix is to show that the theory of Kim and Overhauser (KO) is also applicable to the effect of (ordinary) impurities on p-wave pairing states. Note that recent experimental studies of Superfluid He-3 in aerogel22-26 have shown the same pure-limit behavior which may be understood by a slight variation of the KO theory.

For simplicity, we consider the ABM stste27

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{}=\mathrm{\Delta }_0sin\theta _𝐤e^{i\varphi _𝐤},\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{}=\mathrm{\Delta }_0sin\theta _𝐤e^{i\varphi _𝐤},$$
(31)
where $`\theta _𝐤`$ and $`\varphi _𝐤`$ are the polar and azimuthal angles of $`𝐤`$. (The other p-wave pairing states such as BW state and polar state will be considered elsewhere). For a p-wave superconductor, the pairing interaction $`V_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$ for the plane wave state is taken to be

$$V_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}=e^{i(𝐤𝐤^{})}V(𝐫)d^3𝐫=3V_1(\widehat{𝐤}\widehat{𝐤}^{}),$$
(32)
where $`\widehat{𝐤}`$ is the unit vector parallel to $`𝐤`$. The resulting BCS gap equation, near $`T_c`$, is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=3V_1\underset{𝐤^{}}{}\widehat{𝐤}\widehat{𝐤}^{}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{}}{2ϵ_𝐤}tanh(\frac{ϵ_𝐤^{}}{2T}).$$
(33)
(Actually we should devide Eq. (33) by a factor of 2 to avoid counting the pair of states $`(𝐤,𝐤)`$ twice.27 It may be taken into account by rescaling the pairing potential.) Substituting Eq. (31) into Eq. (33), one finds the $`T_c`$ equation

$$T_c=1.13ϵ_ce^{1/N_0V_1},$$
(34)
where $`ϵ_c`$ is the cutoff energy and $`N_0`$ is the density of states at the Fermi level.

In the presence of impurities, the pairing matrix element $`V_{nn^{}}`$ between scattered basis pairs $`(\psi _{n\alpha },\psi _{\overline{n}\alpha })`$ and $`(\psi _{n^{}\alpha },\psi _{\overline{n^{}}\alpha })`$ is given by

$$V_{nn^{}}=𝑑𝐫_1𝑑𝐫_2\psi _n^{}^{}(𝐫_1)\psi _{\overline{n}^{}}^{}(𝐫_2)V(|𝐫_1𝐫_2|)\psi _{\overline{n}}(𝐫_2)\psi _n(𝐫_1).$$
(35)
Here $`\psi _{\overline{n}}`$ denotes the time-reversed state of $`\psi _n`$. The scattering potential from the impurities can be represented by

$$U(𝐫)=\underset{i}{}u\delta (𝐫𝐑_i).$$
(36)
$`\{𝐑_i\}`$ is the impurity sites. Then the scattered basis which carries the label $`𝐤\alpha `$ is given by

$$\psi _{𝐤\alpha }=N_𝐤[e^{i𝐤𝐫}+\underset{i,𝐪}{}\frac{u}{ϵ_𝐤ϵ_{𝐤+𝐪}}e^{i𝐪𝐑_i}e^{i(𝐤+𝐪)𝐫}]\alpha .$$
(37)
Upon employing Eqs. (32), (35), and (37), we obtain

$$V_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}=3V_1(\widehat{𝐤}\widehat{𝐤}^{})N_𝐤^2N_𝐤^{}^2.$$
(38)
Now we need to determine the normalizing factor $`N_𝐤^2`$

$$N_𝐤^2=\frac{1}{1+|W_𝐤|^2},$$
(39)
where $`|W_𝐤|^2`$ is the relative probability contained in the virtual spherical waves surrounding the impurities. As in s-wave superconductors with magnetic impurities, in calculating $`|W_𝐤|^2`$, we cut off the radial integral at $`R=3.5\xi _0/2`$ near $`T_c`$. Consequently, one finds the normalizing factor

$$N_𝐤^2=\frac{1}{1+3.5\xi _0/4\mathrm{}},$$
(40)
and the reduced pairing matrix element,

$$V_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}=3V_1(\widehat{𝐤}\widehat{𝐤}^{})[1+\frac{3.5\xi _0}{\mathrm{}}]^2,$$
(41)
where $`\mathrm{}`$ is the mean free path. The $`T_c`$ equation is now,

$$T_c=1.13ϵ_ce^{1/N_0V_1[1+(3.5\xi _0/4\mathrm{})]^2}.$$
(42)
It is interesting to notice that this equation shows the pure-limit behavior as in magnetic impurity effect on s-wave superconductors. (Compare Eqs. (42) and (22).) It is noteworthy that the d-wave pairing states also exhibit the pure limit behavior in the presence of ordinary impurities.55 More details will be published elsewhere.

Table I. Values for the initial depression $`(dT_c/dc)_{initial}`$ of the $`T_c`$ of Zn with different concentrations of Mn. Data are from Falke et al., Ref. 13.

| $`(dT_c/dc)_{initial}`$ in \[K/at %\] | sample | Reference |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 170 | bulk |  (1964) |
| 315 | bulk |  (1966) |
| $`>`$300 | bulk |  (1968) |
| 260 (290) | bulk |  (1971) |
| 300 | bulk |  (1972) |
| 630 | single crystal |  (1975) |
| 215 | thin film |  (1967) |
| 285 | thin film |  (1973) |

Table II. Reduction in the $`T_c`$ of some superconductors by magnetic impurities. Data are from Buckel, Ref. 10, Wassermann, Ref. 3, and Schwidtal, Ref. 30.

| Superconductor | Additive | -$`dT_c/dc`$ in K/atom % |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pb | Mn | 21 a), 16∗∗ b) |
| Sn | Mn | 69 c), 14∗∗ b) |
| Zn | Mn | 315 d), 285 e), 343∗∗ f), 630 g) |
| Zn | Cr | 170 d), 90-200 h) |
| Cd | Mn | 44 i), 5.4 j) |
| In | Mn | 25 k), 53 l), 50∗∗ m), 100 n) |
| In | Fe | 2.5 l), 2.0 o) |
| La | Gd | 5.1 p), 4.5∗∗ q) |

quench-condensed films

∗∗ ion implantation at low temperatures

References: a): ; b):; c):; d):; e):; f):; g):;

h):; i):; j):; k):; l):; m):; n):; o):; p):; q):;


format: text

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# Homotopy of Rational Maps and the Quantization of Skyrmions

## 1 Introduction

The Skyrme model is a classical model for the strong interaction between atomic nuclei, . Any field configuration in this model is labelled by a topological winding number which can be interpreted as the baryon number $`B`$. In order to compare the Skyrme model to experiments it has to be quantized. Since a canonical quantization of the model is not possible because it is non-renormalizable as a field theory, the model can only be quantized approximately.

In  Adkins et al. quantized the rotational and translational zero modes of the $`B=1`$ Skyrmion and obtained good agreement with experiment. A subtle point is that the Skyrme model, as a classical field theory, allows for quantizing Skyrmions as fermions. This is because the configuration space is not simply connected . For the $`SU(2)`$ Skyrme model there is a choice whether to quantize a Skyrmion as a boson or a fermion when $`B`$ is odd. Yet, it has to be quantized as a boson if $`B`$ is even, . Witten showed in Refs.  that in the $`SU(3)`$ model the $`B=1`$ Skyrmion has to be quantized as fermion if the number of colours is odd, yet no such restriction applies to the $`SU(2)`$ Skyrme model.

In order to quantize Skyrmions with higher baryon number it is important to understand the classical solutions. Well-separated Skyrmions can be described reasonably well by the product ansatz, however when Skyrmions coalesce this ansatz fails. In fact, the static solutions of the Skyrme model have a surprisingly rich structure. Braaten et al. showed in Ref.  that the $`B=2`$ Skyrmion is a torus, the $`B=3`$ Skyrmion is a tetrahedron and the $`B=4`$ Skyrmion is a cube. Battye and Sutcliffe calculated the Skyrmions up to $`B=9`$,  and later to $`B=22`$, , and also found shell-like structures with discrete symmetries.

The $`B=2`$ Skyrmion with toroidal symmetry was quantized in Refs.  using the zero mode quantization. Later, the approximation was improved by taking massive modes into account, . The $`B=3`$ Skyrmion was first quantized in . Then the cubically symmetric $`B=4`$ Skyrmion was quantized in . Irwin has performed a zero mode quantization for $`B=4`$ to $`B=9`$, , where the monopole moduli space was used as an approximation for the Skyrmion moduli space. For all the even baryon numbers he found that the predicted quantum numbers of the ground state agreed with nuclear physics. Yet, his findings disagreed with experiments for $`B=5`$, $`7`$ and $`9`$.

The aim of this paper is to construct the Finkelstein-Rubinstein constraints directly from the rational map ansatz, . With this ansatz it is possible to understand the symmetries of Skyrmions. Effectively, it gives a finite dimensional approximation to the configuration space which is more tractable than the infinite dimensional configuration space but still retains important topological properties. Moreover, the ansatz plays a major role in constructing Skyrmions. To date, both the numerical configurations and the relevant rational maps are known up to $`B=22`$, . In this paper we apply these results to calculate the quantum ground states up to $`B=22`$ using zero mode quantization.

This paper is organised as follows. In Sect. 2 we briefly review the Skyrme model and discuss its topology in some detail. The topology, in particular the fundamental group of configuration space, is very important for understanding the Finkelstein-Rubinstein constraints for quantizing scalar fields as fermions . We describe this construction and its implications on zero mode quantization. In Sect. 3 we recall the rational map ansatz  and show that it can be viewed as a suspension. This enables us to calculate the fundamental group of configuration space directly from rational maps. Applying some theorems on the fundamental group of rational maps we prove a simple formula to calculate the homotopy class of a loop generated by a combined rotation and isorotation. In Sect. 4 we discuss how to use group theory to find the ground states in the Skyrme model and present the results of our calculations. We end with a conclusion.

## 2 The Topology of the Skyrme Model

The Skyrme model is a classical field theory of mesons. The basic field is the $`SU(2)`$ valued field $`U(𝐱,t)`$ where $`𝐱^3`$. The static solutions of the Skyrme model can be derived by varying the following energy :

$$E=\left(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}\left(R_iR_i\right)\frac{1}{16}\mathrm{Tr}\left([R_i,R_j][R_i,R_j]\right)\right)\mathrm{d}^3𝐱,$$
(1)
where $`R_i=(_iU)U^{}`$ is a right invariant $`𝔰𝔲(2)`$ valued current. A static solution of the variational equations could be a saddle point. Only solutions which minimise the energy are called Skyrmions. In order to have finite energy the Skyrme fields have to take a constant value, $`U(|𝐱|=\mathrm{})=1`$, at infinity.111The value of $`U`$ at infinity is fixed by assuming there is a (infinitesimal) pion mass term. Therefore, the space of Skyrme configurations consists of all maps $`U:^3S^3`$ with boundary condition $`U(|𝐱|=\mathrm{})=1`$ which effectively compactifies $`^3`$ to $`S^3`$. Such maps can be characterised by their degree which is an element of the third homotopy group $`\pi _3(S^3)`$. We will call the space of Skyrme configurations $`Q^{}`$ in order to emphasise that the maps are based, i.e. the point “$`\mathrm{}`$” is mapped to $`1`$. The configuration space $`Q^{}`$ is split into connected components $`Q_B^{}`$ which are the homotopy classes of $`\pi _3(S^3)`$. The fact that $`Q_B^{}`$ is connected follows from a famous theorem of Hopf (e.g. ). Furthermore, the energy of configurations in $`Q_B^{}`$ is bounded below by the topological charge: $`E12\pi ^2B`$, .

### 2.1 Finkelstein-Rubinstein Constraints

In the following we describe an idea of Finkelstein and Rubinstein, how to quantize a scalar field theory and obtain fermions. Quantization usually implies replacing the classical configuration space by (wave) functions on configuration space. Finkelstein and Rubinstein argued that if the configuration space $`Q^{}`$ is not simply connected, then the wave functions have to be defined not on configuration space $`Q^{}`$, but on the covering space of configuration space $`CQ^{}`$. To simplify matters, we assume that baryons are conserved in our theory, that is baryons cannot decay. This means that the wave function has to be non vanishing only on one component, otherwise there could be transitions between different sectors. Therefore, we impose the (superselection) rule that the wave functions are defined on $`CQ_B^{}`$.

In order to have fermionic quantization, a rotation of a wave function $`\psi `$ by $`2\pi `$ has to result in $`\psi `$. However, the $`SO(3)`$ action is not well defined on $`CQ_B^{}`$. In order to define this group action one has to keep track of the component of the covering space and this is the origin of the FR constraints.

Finkelstein showed in Ref.  that the fundamental group $`\pi _1(Q_0^{})`$ is isomorphic to $`\pi _4(S^3)`$. It is a standard result of algebraic topology that $`\pi _4(S^3)_2`$, e.g. . Furthermore, Whitehead proved the following theorem in Ref. .

###### Theorem 2.1 (Whitehead)

Let $`F^p(X,x_0)`$ be based maps $`f:S^pX`$ such that $`f(1)=x_0`$. Then the connected components of $`F^p(X,x_0)`$ are homotopy equivalent. $`\mathrm{}`$

This implies in particular that the fundamental groups $`\pi _1(Q_{B_1}^{})`$ and $`\pi _1(Q_{B_2}^{})`$ for different components are isomorphic. It follows that222An alternative proof was given in Ref.  which relies on the fact that the target space of the Skyrme model is a group, namely $`SU(2)`$.

$$\pi _1(Q_B^{})\pi _4(S^3)_2.$$
(2)
The covering space $`CQ_B^{}`$ can now be defined as the space of all paths starting at a fixed point $`q_0Q_B^{}`$ modulo homotopy. Elements in $`CQ_B^{}`$ will be denoted by $`[q]`$. Let $`[a]`$ be the generator of the fundamental group of $`Q_B^{}`$. Then we can define the path $`[qa]`$, where $`[a]`$ is a loop, starting at $`q`$. This is well defined because $`Q_B^{}`$ is connected so that the loop is independent of the base point $`q_0`$ (up to isomorphism). $`[qa]`$ and $`[q]`$ are different points in $`CQ_B^{}`$ which project to the same point $`qQ_B^{}`$. As $`\pi _1(Q_B^{})=_2`$, $`[a^2]`$ is a trivial loop, therefore,

$$[qaa]=[q].$$
(3)
Define a wave function

$$\psi :CQ^{}\times :([q],t)\psi ([q],t)$$
(4)
as an element of a formal Hilbert space $``$, such that $`\psi `$ is square integrable and normalised:

$$|\psi ([q],t)|^2\mathrm{d}[q]=1.$$
(5)
Define $`L_a\psi ([q],t)=\psi ([qa],t)`$. Conventionally, a wave function is determined by configuration space, modulo a phase. Then

$$L_a\psi ([q],t)=\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi }\psi ([q],t),$$
(6)
and equation (3) implies that $`\mathrm{e}^{2i\varphi }=1`$. If the phase is trivial then we can define the function on $`Q_B^{}`$. In physicists’ language, this corresponds to a theory which only contains bosons. Therefore, we impose a nontrivial phase

$$L_a\psi ([q],t)=\psi ([q],t).$$
(7)
We now impose rotational and isorotational symmetry on the wave function as follows. We insist that the wave function $`\psi `$ vanishes on the path $`[q]`$ unless the corresponding configuration $`q`$ is invariant under a rotation through angle $`\alpha `$ around axis $`𝐧`$ followed by an isorotation through angle $`\beta `$ around axis $`𝐍`$. Then equation (7) implies the following constraint on the wave function:

$$\mathrm{e}^{i\alpha 𝐧𝐉}\mathrm{e}^{i\beta 𝐍𝐈}\psi ([q],t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \psi ([q],t)& \mathrm{if}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{induced}\mathrm{loop}\mathrm{is}\mathrm{contractible},\hfill \\ \hfill \psi ([q],t)& \mathrm{otherwise}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(8)
Here $`𝐉`$ and $`𝐈`$ are the spin and isospin operators respectively, with quantum numbers $`J`$ and $`I`$. This imposes a constraint on the allowed quantum states, namely equation (8) can only be satisfied for suitable values of $`I`$ and $`J`$. Particularly important are rotations or isorotations by $`2\pi `$ because they are always a symmetry of the system. When a $`2\pi `$ rotation gives rise to a nontrivial loop then this corresponds to half integer spin. It is worth noting that Finkelstein and Rubinstein proved a connection between spin and statistics in this setting. Namely, $`Q_B^{}`$ admits half integer spin if and only if it admits odd exchange statistics.

### 2.2 Zero Mode Quantization

The Skyrme model is not renormalizable as a field theory. The usual approach is to quantize it semi-classically. The key idea is the following. The classical dynamics of (slow-moving) solitons can often be described by geodesic motion on the moduli space of static solutions . This has been shown for monopoles in , where this idea was also used to quantize monopoles. For an overview of exact results about the geodesic approximation for vortices, see e.g.  and references therein. Contrary to monopoles and vortices the minimum energy configuration of a given sector is found to be unique up to the action of the symmetry group, namely translations in space and rotations in space and target space. For $`B=1`$ the Skyrmion has spherical symmetry so that the symmetry orbit is 6 dimensional. For $`B=2`$ there is axial symmetry and the orbit is $`8`$ dimensional, whereas for higher baryon number there are only discrete symmetries and the orbit is 9 dimensional. Since the formal Hilbert space $``$ of the previous section is difficult to handle in practice, a simple approximation is often used in the literature, namely that the wave function is only non-vanishing on the static minimal energy solution of a given sector, i.e. a Skyrmion, and its symmetry orbit. This quantization is known as zero mode quantization.333Here, the word “zero mode” is used rather loosely to refer to symmetry transformations that leave the energy (1) invariant.

The Skyrme Lagrangian is invariant under the Poincaré group of (3+1) dimensional space, $`SO(3)`$ rotations in target space and some discrete parity transformations, which will not be considered here. Similarly, the space of static solutions, that is configurations which minimise the energy (1), is invariant under the Euclidean group $`𝔼_3`$, isorotations and parity transformations. By acting with the latter symmetry group on a static Skyrmion $`U_0`$ we generate a set of new static solutions

$$U(𝐱)=AU_0\left(D(A^{})\left(𝐱𝐗\right)\right)A^{},$$
(9)
where $`A`$ and $`A^{}`$ are $`\mathrm{SU}(2)`$ matrices, $`D(A^{})`$ is the associated $`\mathrm{SO}(3)`$ rotation and $`𝐗`$ is a vector. In the zero mode approximation the matrices $`A`$ and $`A^{}`$ and the vector $`𝐗`$ are considered to be time dependent. This leads to the following reduced Lagrangian

$$L=M+\frac{1}{2}M\dot{X}^2+\frac{1}{2}a_iU_{ij}a_j+\frac{1}{2}b_iV_{ij}b_ja_iW_{ij}b_j,$$
(10)
where $`M`$ is the classical mass of the Skyrmion, and

$$\begin{array}{ccc}a_k=i\mathrm{Tr}\left(\tau _kA^{}\dot{A}\right)& \mathrm{and}& b_k=i\mathrm{Tr}\left(\tau _k\dot{A^{}}A_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}\right).\end{array}$$
(11)
The matrices $`U_{ij}`$, $`V_{ij}`$ and $`W_{ij}`$ are dependent on the classical solution $`U_0`$ and are given by

$`U_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{8}{\displaystyle d^3x\mathrm{Tr}\left(T_iT_j+\frac{1}{4}[R_k,T_i][R_k,T_j]\right)},`$ (12)
$`W_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{8}{\displaystyle d^3xϵ_{jlm}x_l\mathrm{Tr}\left(T_iR_m+\frac{1}{4}[R_k,T_i][R_k,R_m]\right)},`$ (13)
$`V_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{8}{\displaystyle d^3xϵ_{ilm}ϵ_{jno}x_lx_n\mathrm{Tr}\left(R_mR_o+\frac{1}{4}[R_k,R_m][R_k,R_o]\right)},`$ (14)
where $`R_k=(_kU_0)U_0^{}`$ is the right invariant $`𝔰𝔲(2)`$ current which has been defined above, and

$$T_i=i[\frac{\tau _i}{2},U_0]U_0^{}$$
(15)
is also an $`𝔰𝔲(2)`$ current. Lagrangian (10) is no longer Lorentz invariant which is consistent with the fact that the moduli approximation only works for small velocities. For a covariant treatment for $`B=1`$ see for example .

Lagrangian (10) can now be canonically quantized. The momenta conjugate to $`a_i`$ and $`b_i`$ become the body-fixed spin and isospin angular momenta $`K_i`$ and $`L_i`$ satisfying the $`SU(2)`$ commutation relations, see  for details. The usual space-fixed spin and isospin angular momenta $`J_i`$ and $`I_i`$ are related to the body-fixed operators by

$$\begin{array}{ccc}J_i=D_{ij}(A^{})L_j,& & I_i=D_{ij}(A)K_j.\end{array}$$
(16)
The remaining nonvanishing commutation relations are

$$\begin{array}{ccc}[L_i,A^{}]=\frac{\tau _i}{2}A^{},& & [J_i,A^{}]=\frac{\tau _i}{2}A^{},\\ & & \\ [I_i,A]=\frac{\tau _i}{2}A,& & [K_i,A]=\frac{\tau _i}{2}A.\end{array}$$
(17)
Therefore, $`𝐋^2=𝐉^2`$ and $`𝐈^2=𝐊^2`$. A basis for this Hilbert space is given by

$$|J,J_3,L_3|I,I_3,K_3$$
(18)
with $`JJ_3,L_3J`$ and $`II_3,K_3I`$. In this approximation, the ground states are the states with the lowest values of $`I`$ and $`J`$ that are compatible with the FR constraints arising from the symmetries of the given Skyrmion.

The values of the integrals $`U_{ij}`$, $`V_{ij}`$, and $`W_{ij}`$ strongly depend on the symmetries of the Skyrmion. For tetrahedral symmetry $`T`$, octahedral symmetry $`O`$, and icosahedral symmetry $`Y`$, the matrices often only have one eigenvalue, see  for a detailed discussion. In this case, the Hamiltonian is that of a spherical top. If there is an axis of symmetry of higher than second order then the matrices have at most two eigenvalues. If these eigenvalues are distinct then the Hamiltonian is that of a symmetric top. In both cases, the states in (18) will be energy eigenstates as well. If the states only have dihedral $`D_2`$ symmetry, then the Hamiltonian is that of an asymmetric top and the states (18) are no longer energy eigenstates, see e.g. .

The integrals $`U_{ij}`$, $`V_{ij}`$, and $`W_{ij}`$ determine the values of the moment of inertia for $`J`$ and $`I`$. For $`B=1`$ these moments of inertia are equal, however, in general the moments of inertia are larger for rotations than for isorotations, which implies that for $`I=J`$ isorotations contribute more to the energy.

## 3 The Rational Map Ansatz

Equation $`(\text{1})`$ can only by solved numerically. However, there is a good approximation, called the rational map ansatz . In this ansatz Skyrme fields as maps from $`S^3S^3`$ are given in terms of rational maps which are holomorphic maps from $`S^2S^2`$. This ansatz not only gives good approximations for the Skyrme configurations and in particular their symmetries. It also gives a good approximation to the topology of configuration space $`Q_B^{}`$. We will prove the following theorem.

###### Theorem 3.1

The rational map ansatz induces a surjective homomorphism from the fundamental group of based rational maps $`\pi _1(Rat_B^{})`$ onto the fundamental group of Skyrme configurations $`\pi _1(Q_B^{})`$.

### 3.1 Description of the Rational Map Ansatz

The rational map ansatz is best derived in the geometric approach to the Skyrme model . For more details see . Here, we only state the main results. First note that the angular coordinates $`(\theta ,\varphi )`$ can be related to the complex plane $`z`$ by the stereographic projection $`z=\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi }\mathrm{tan}\frac{\theta }{2}`$. Then the rational map ansatz is given by

$$U(𝐱)=\mathrm{exp}(if(r)\widehat{𝐧}_R(z)𝝉).$$
(19)
Here $`f(r)`$ is a shape function with boundary condition $`f(0)=\pi `$ and $`f(\mathrm{})=0`$, and $`\tau _i`$ are the Pauli matrices. The angular behaviour is determined by the function $`R(z)`$ which is also the stereographic projection of an $`S^2`$ in target space $`S^3`$. The unit vector $`\widehat{𝐧}_R(z)`$ is

$$\widehat{𝐧}_R=\frac{1}{1+|R|^2}(2\mathrm{}(R),2\mathrm{}(R),1|R|^2).$$
(20)
There is one further restriction on the map $`R(z)`$ in that it is a holomorphic map of degree $`B`$. This implies that $`R(z)`$ can be written as a ratio of two polynomials,

$$R(z)=\frac{p(z)}{q(z)},$$
(21)
where $`p(z)`$ and $`q(z)`$ are polynomials with maximal polynomial degree $`B`$ which have no common factor. Moreover, at least one of the polynomials has polynomial degree $`B`$, see e.g. . We will call the class of such maps $`Rat_B`$ and will show in Sect. 3.2 that such maps give rise to configurations with baryon number $`B`$.

In practice, the rational map ansatz is used in the following way. Inserting (19) into (1) gives

$$E=4\pi \left(f_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}r^2+2B(f_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}+1)\mathrm{sin}^2f+\frac{\mathrm{sin}^4f}{r^2}\right)dr,$$
(22)
where444$``$ is also known as the harmonic 4-energy of holomorphic maps $`R:S^2S^2`$.

$$=\frac{1}{4\pi }\left(\frac{1+|z|^2}{1+|R|^2}\left|\frac{\mathrm{d}R}{\mathrm{d}z}\right|\right)^4\frac{2i\mathrm{d}z\mathrm{d}\overline{z}}{(1+|z|^2)^2}.$$
(23)
Now, the minimum ansatz field is found by choosing polynomials $`p(z)`$ and $`q(z)`$ which minimise $``$ and then calculating the shape function $`f(r)`$ numerically. These minimum energy ansatz fields have been calculated for all the known Skyrmions and are found to have energies that exceed the true, numerically determined minima by less than $`3\%`$. Moreover, in almost all the cases the rational map ansatz gives the correct symmetries of the Skyrme fields . In the following, we will describe the symmetries of Skyrmions, and their rational maps, in more detail.

Skyrmions can be rotated by an $`SU(2)`$ matrix $`A^{}`$ and isorotated by $`A`$ as in equation (9). The matrices $`A`$ and $`A^{}`$ induce the following transformations of the rational map $`R(z)`$.

$$R(z)\stackrel{~}{R}(z)=M_A\left(R\left(M_A^{}(z)\right)\right).$$
(24)
Configurations are invariant under a subgroup of these transformations if $`\stackrel{~}{R}(z)=R(z)`$. Since the corresponding Möbius transformations $`M_A`$ and $`M_A^{}`$ do not agree with the canonical $`SU(2)`$ action, we derive the transformations explicitly.

In 3-dimensional space a rotation by $`\theta `$ around the unit vector $`𝝎`$ is given by $`\mathrm{exp}(i\theta \omega _iJ_i)`$ where the (space fixed) angular momentum operator is $`(J_k)_{lm}=iϵ_{klm}`$. In order to describe rotations for rational maps we relate the unit vector $`𝐧`$ to a complex vector

$$V=\left(\begin{array}{c}v_1\\ v_2\end{array}\right)^2$$
(25)
via the formula

$$n_i=\frac{V^{}\tau _iV}{V^{}V},$$
(26)
where $`\tau _i`$ are the standard Pauli matrices. If $`V^{}V=1`$ then this map is the famous Hopf map. Note also that because of the denominator in equation (26) this map is well defined for $`V^1`$ where $`[v_1,v_2][\lambda v_1,\lambda v_2]`$ for $`\lambda ^\times `$. In this case the map is one to one.

Let

$$R_{ij}=\mathrm{exp}(i\theta \omega _kJ_k)_{ij}$$
(27)
be a rotation by $`\theta `$ around the unit vector $`\omega _i`$. Then the rotation of $`𝐧`$ corresponds to a $`SU(2)`$ rotation $`A^{}`$ of $`V`$:

$$n_i^{}=R_{ij}n_j=\frac{V^{}A_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}\tau _iA^{}V}{V^{}A_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}A^{}V}$$
(28)
A straight forward calculation shows that $`A^{}`$ is given by

$$A^{}=\pm \mathrm{exp}\left(i\frac{\theta }{2}\omega _k\tau _k\right).$$
(29)
The complex number $`z`$ is related to $`𝐧`$ by the stereographic projection

$$z=\frac{n_1+in_2}{1+n_3}=\frac{v_2}{v_1},$$
(30)
where the second equality follows from the definition (26) by direct calculation. Therefore, we obtain the transformation law

$$\stackrel{~}{z}=\frac{\left(\mathrm{cos}\frac{\theta }{2}+i\omega _3\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}\right)z+\left(\omega _2i\omega _1\right)\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}}{\left(\omega _2i\omega _1\right)\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}z+\left(\mathrm{cos}\frac{\theta }{2}i\omega _3\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}\right)}.$$
(31)
Now, let $`A=\mathrm{exp}(i\theta \omega _iI_i)`$ be the isospin rotations by $`\theta `$ around the unit vector $`\omega _i`$ and $`I_i=\frac{1}{2}\tau _i`$. Then $`A`$ induces a rotation $`R_{ij}`$ on the unit vector $`𝐧_R`$ in equation (20). We repeat the derivation above and obtain

$$\stackrel{~}{R}=\frac{\left(\mathrm{cos}\frac{\theta }{2}+i\omega _3\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}\right)R+\left(\omega _2i\omega _1\right)\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}}{\left(\omega _2i\omega _1\right)\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}R+\left(\mathrm{cos}\frac{\theta }{2}i\omega _3\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}\right)}.$$
(32)
Note that rational maps can also be defined as maps $`^1^1`$ using homogeneous coordinates $`[v_1,v_2][p,q]`$, where square brackets imply the equivalence relation $`[u,v]=[\lambda u,\lambda v]`$ for $`\lambda ^\times `$. Then $`p`$ and $`q`$ can be considered as homogeneous polynomials in $`v_1`$ and $`v_2`$, see  for details. The advantage of these coordinates is that both the rotation group and the isospin rotation group act linearly.

### 3.2 The Rational Map Ansatz as a Suspension

A construction like the rational map ansatz is very common in algebraic topology and is known as a suspension. In fact the suspension $`𝒮M`$ of a given manifold $`M`$ is constructed by considering the product space $`I\times M`$, where $`I`$ is the interval $`I=[0,1]`$, and taking the quotient with respect to the two end points of $`I`$:

$$𝒮M=(I\times M)/(\{0\}\times M\{1\}\times M).$$
(33)
In other words, there is an equivalence relation $``$ which identifies all the points $`\{0\}\times M`$ to one point and also identifies all the points $`\{1\}\times M`$ to one point. The quotient space $`(I\times M)/`$ is again a manifold. One reason why this construction is so important is its natural compatibility with spheres: $`𝒮S^n=S^{n+1}`$. However, not only spaces, but also maps can be suspended. Let $`f:MN`$ then the suspension $`𝒮f`$ of $`f`$ is given by $`𝒮f:𝒮M𝒮N`$. This map is induced by $`Idf:I\times MI\times N`$ where $`Id:II`$ is the identity map. The suspension is very convenient for studying homotopy group as the following theorem suggests, see \[19, Corollary 4.24\].

###### Theorem 3.2 (Freudenthal suspension theorem)

The suspension map $`\pi _i(S^n)\pi _{i+1}(S^{n+1})`$ is an isomorphism for $`i<2n1`$ and a surjection for $`i=2n1`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

It is easy to verify that the rational map ansatz is a suspension. Both domain and codomain are given by Cartesian products of an interval and a two-sphere. The fact that the radial coordinate $`r[0,\mathrm{})`$ can be considered as a closed interval relies on the boundary conditions. Moreover, at each of the end points the map collapses to a point. So domain and codomain are suspensions of $`S^2`$ and the rational map ansatz suspends holomorphic maps from $`S^2S^2`$.

An immediate consequence of theorem 3.2 is that rational maps of degree $`B`$ induce Skyrme configurations of degree $`B`$ which proves our claim in Sect. 3.1. In the following we prove theorem 3.1. This theorem can be used to calculate the FR phase directly from rational maps. Denote the space of based rational maps $`Rat_B^{}`$ by

$$Rat_B^{}=\{RRat_B:R(\mathrm{})=1\}.$$
(34)
In order to apply the Freudenthal suspension theorem 3.2 we need to consider more general maps between two-spheres. Let $`M_B`$ denote continuous maps from $`S^2S^2`$ of degree $`B`$, and $`M_B^{}`$ the space of based maps in $`M_B`$. The following theorem by Segal, , implies that for our purposes, rational maps are sufficiently general.

###### Theorem 3.3 (Segal)

$`M_B^{}`$ and $`Rat_B^{}`$ are homotopy equivalent up to $`B`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Proof of theorem 3.1:

First we show that the suspension $`𝒮`$ induces an surjective homomorphism $`𝒮_{}:\pi _1(M_B^{})\pi _1(Q_B^{})`$. We only need to prove this for $`B=0`$ because Whitehead’s theorem 2.1 implies that all the fundamental groups $`\pi _1(M_B^{})`$ are isomorphic and similarly for $`\pi _1(Q_B^{})`$. It can be shown by the same argument as in  that

$$\pi _1(M_0^{})\pi _3(S^2).$$
(35)
Recall that $`\pi _1(Q_0^{})\pi _4(S^3)`$. Then the Freudenthal suspension theorem 3.2 implies that $`𝒮_{}`$ is a surjective homomorphism.

It follows from Segal’s theorem that this result also holds for rational maps as long as $`B>0`$. Namely, we have the following homomorphisms

$$\pi _1(Rat_B^{})\pi _1(M_B^{})\pi _1(Q_B^{}),$$
(36)
where the first map is an isomorphism because of theorem 3.3 and the second map is a surjective homomorphism. $`\mathrm{}`$

### 3.3 The Fundamental Group of Rational Maps

In this section we show how to calculate the homotopy class of a loop that is generated by a given symmetry. Segal has proven the following theorem in \[32, Proposition 6.4\]:

###### Theorem 3.4 (Segal)

$`\pi _1(Rat_B^{})=`$ and is generated by the loop which moves one zero of a rational function once (clockwise) around one pole. $`\mathrm{}`$

Note that the inclusion induces a surjective homomorphism of fundamental groups between based and unbased rational maps

$$\pi _1(Rat_B^{})\pi _1(Rat_B)$$
(37)
such that the generator of $`\pi _1(Rat_B^{})`$ is mapped to the generator of $`\pi _1(Rat_B)`$. The fundamental group of unbased maps is $`\pi _1(Rat_B)=_{2B}`$ .

Let $`z_i`$ be the zeros, and $`p_j`$ the poles of the rational map $`R`$. For a given loop $`L`$ in $`Rat_B^{}`$ the zeros and poles move around in the complex plane as a function of a parameter $`\varphi [0,\mathrm{\Phi }]`$ such that $`z_i(0)=z_i(\mathrm{\Phi })=z_i`$ and $`p_j(0)=p_j(\mathrm{\Phi })=p_j`$. Define the integral

$$N(L)=\frac{i}{2\pi }\underset{i,j=1}{\overset{B}{}}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{\Phi }}{}}\frac{(z_i^{}(\varphi )p_j^{}(\varphi ))\mathrm{d}\varphi }{(z_i(\varphi )p_j(\varphi ))}.$$
(38)
where  denotes differentiation with respect to $`\varphi `$. Note that the denominators in the integrals do not vanish because poles and zeros cannot coalesce.

###### Lemma 3.5

$`N(L)`$ is a homotopy invariant and counts the number of times zeros move around poles. Therefore, $`N(L)`$ provides an isomorphism $`\pi _1(Rat_B^{})`$.

Proof of lemma 3.5: For a given loop, $`L`$, zeros and poles move around in the complex plane such that zeros move into zeros and poles move into poles. Therefore, a loop induces a permutation of poles and zeros. These permutations split up into cycles. Changing variables via $`z(\varphi )=z_i(\varphi )p_j(\varphi )`$ we obtain

$$N(L)=\frac{i}{2\pi }\underset{k}{}\underset{C_k(L)}{}\frac{\mathrm{d}z}{z},$$
(39)
where the second sum runs over all the cycles and the integral is written as a contour integral. The loop $`L`$ in the space of rational maps induces one or more contour integrals over the contours $`C_k(L)`$. The value of the integral is given according to Cauchy’s theorem by the residue of the simple pole at $`z=0`$ and the number of times the $`C_k(L)`$ enclose this pole.

Consider now a loop $`\stackrel{~}{L}`$ which is homotopic to $`L`$. This induces a set of contours $`\stackrel{~}{C}_j`$ where the number of cycles could have changed. Then $`N(\stackrel{~}{L})N(L)`$ is a difference of contour integrals. By adding and subtracting additional paths we can express $`N(\stackrel{~}{L})N(L)`$ as a sum of closed contours $`K_i(L,\stackrel{~}{L})`$. However, because $`\stackrel{~}{L}`$ and $`L`$ are homotopic, there can be no residue inside $`K_i(L,\stackrel{~}{L})`$ as this would correspond to zeros coalescing with poles. Therefore, the integral over $`K_i(L,\stackrel{~}{L})`$ vanishes by Cauchy’s theorem and we have shown that $`N(\stackrel{~}{L})=N(L)`$, i.e. $`N(L)`$ is a homotopy invariant.

It is obvious from the properties of integration that $`N(L_1+L_2)=N(L_1)+N(L_2)`$. Therefore, $`N`$ is a homomorphism. Furthermore, it is easy to check by direct calculation that moving a zero once clockwise around a pole gives rise to $`N=1`$. Therefore, $`N`$ provides an isomorphism between the fundamental group of based rational maps and the integers. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Corollary 3.6

The rational map ansatz induces an isomorphism $`Nmod2\pi _1(Q_B^{})`$.

Proof of corollary 3.6: Due to theorem 3.1 there is a surjective homomorphism $`\pi _1(Rat_B^{})\pi _1(Q_B^{})`$. According to lemma 3.5, $`N`$ provides an isomorphism $`\pi _1(Rat_B^{})`$. Since $`\pi _1(Q_B^{})_2`$ there is an isomorphism between $`Nmod2`$ and $`\pi _1(Q_B^{})`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

### 3.4 Axially-Symmetric Skyrmions

In the next two sections, we show how to calculate $`N`$ for a loop given by a combined rotation and isorotation. In general, the isospin action gives rise to a complicated movement of zeros and poles. However, for axially symmetric maps the isospin action can be calculated explicitly. Therefore, we consider axially symmetric maps first and then generalise the results to maps which are symmetric under discrete symmetries.

There are many possible $`U(1)\times U(1)`$ actions on $`Rat_B^{}`$. However, for degree $`B`$ rational maps there is only a one parameter family of axially symmetric maps.

###### Lemma 3.7

The most general axially symmetric map in $`Rat_B^{}`$ for $`B0`$ is given by

$$R(z)=\frac{z^Bb}{z^B+b},$$
(40)
for $`b0`$.

Proof of lemma 3.7: It is easy to check that the only rotation that leaves the boundary condition $`R(z=\mathrm{})=1`$ invariant is a rotation by an angle $`\alpha `$ around the $`x_3`$-axis,

$$z\mathrm{e}^{i\alpha }z.$$
(41)
Similarly, the only isorotation that leaves the boundary conditions invariant is an isorotation by $`\beta `$ around the $`X_1`$-axis,555Here, $`x_i`$ denotes a Cartesian coordinate system of the domain, and $`X_i`$ is a local Cartesian coordinate system of the codomain. $`R`$ and $`z`$ are related to $`X_i`$ and $`x_i`$, respectively, by stereographic projection.

$$R\frac{\mathrm{cos}(\beta /2)Ri\mathrm{sin}(\beta /2)}{i\mathrm{sin}(\beta /2)R+\mathrm{cos}(\beta /2)}.$$
(42)
In the following, when no rotation or isorotation axis is mentioned we implicitly assume (41) and (42), respectively.

Under an infinitesimal rotation by $`\alpha `$ followed by an infinitesimal isorotation by $`\beta `$ a rational map

$$R(z)=\frac{p(z)}{q(z)}$$
(43)
of degree $`B0`$ transforms into

$$\stackrel{~}{R}(z)=R(z)+\frac{i}{q(z)^2}\left(\frac{\beta }{2}\left(p(z)^2q(z)^2\right)+\alpha z\left(p^{}(z)q(z)p(z)q^{}(z)\right)\right)+O(\alpha ,\beta ),$$
(44)
where  denotes differentiation with respect to $`z`$. The map is invariant under a continuous symmetry generated by $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ if and only if the term in big brackets vanishes. Assuming that $`\beta =0`$ leads to

$$\alpha zR^{}(z)=0$$
(45)
which implies that either $`\alpha =0`$ so that there is no continuous symmetry or $`R(z)`$ is constant almost everywhere in contradiction to $`B0`$. Therefore, $`\beta `$ does not vanish.

As $`R(z)`$ has degree $`B`$ we can write the polynomials $`p(z)`$ and $`q(z)`$ as

$`p(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{B}{}}}a_kz^k,`$ (46)
$`q(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{B}{}}}b_kz^k,`$ (47)
and because of the boundary conditions we can set $`a_B=b_B=1`$. The rational map is invariant, if the first order term in equation (44) vanishes, i.e. all the coefficients of the polynomials are equal to zero. The coefficient of $`z^n`$ can be written as

$$\underset{k}{}a_ka_{nk}b_kb_{nk}+\gamma (2kn)(a_kb_{nk}a_{nk}b_k),$$
(48)
where $`\gamma =\alpha /\beta `$ and the sum runs from $`k=0`$ to $`n`$ if $`nB`$ and from $`k=nB`$ to $`B`$ if $`n>B`$. For $`n=0`$ we obtain $`a_0^2b_0^2=0`$.

#### Case: $`a_0=b_0`$

By induction let $`a_i=b_i`$ for $`0i<n`$. Using the coefficients with $`nB`$ we obtain

$$(a_nb_n)(1+n\gamma )=0.$$
(49)
For $`1+n\gamma 0`$ this implies by induction that $`p(z)=q(z)`$, i.e. $`R(z)=1`$ in contradiction to the assumption that the degree of $`R(z)`$ is $`B0`$.

We can also use the coefficients for $`nB`$ to perform an induction for decreasing $`i`$ by $`a_i=b_i`$ for $`Bi>nB`$, noting that $`a_B=b_B=1`$. This leads to

$$(a_{nB}b_{nB})(1+\gamma (n2B))=0.$$
(50)
Setting $`\gamma =1/m`$ and $`m=nB`$ in (50) we obtain

$$B(a_mb_m)=0,$$
(51)
which implies by induction and equation (49) that $`a_i=b_i`$ for all $`0iB`$, i.e. $`p(z)=q(z)`$. This is again a contradiction to $`R(z)1`$. Therefore, $`a_0=b_0`$ does not give any solutions.

#### Case: $`a_0=b_0`$

By induction let $`a_i=b_i`$ for $`0i<n`$. Using the coefficients with $`nB`$ we obtain

$$(a_n+b_n)(1n\gamma )=0.$$
(52)
This leads to a contradiction for $`n=B`$ if $`\gamma 1/B`$. Therefore, we have to set $`\gamma =1/B`$. Now, we can perform the same inductions as in the previous case. From equation (50) we obtain

$$(a_{nB}b_{nB})(1(2Bn)/B)=0.$$
(53)
This implies that

$$\begin{array}{ccc}a_i=b_i& \mathrm{and}& a_i=b_i,\end{array}$$
(54)
for $`i=1,\mathrm{},B1`$, so that all such $`a_i`$ and $`b_i`$ vanish. Furthermore, $`a_n=b_n=1`$ and $`a_0=b_0=b`$. This is a well-defined rational map of degree $`B`$ unless $`b=0`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

The zeros and poles of the rational map (40) are distributed equidistantly on the unit circle in the $`z`$ plane. Under an isorotation (42) by $`2\pi `$ a pole moves into a neighbouring pole and a zero moves into a neighbouring zero. However, under a rotation by $`2\pi `$ all zeros and poles move round once around the unit circle and end at their respective starting position. A combination of a rotation by $`\alpha `$ and an isorotation by $`\beta `$ is a symmetry of the axial map (40) if and only if $`B\alpha \beta =2\pi k`$ for $`k`$. We will denote a path generated by a rotation by $`\alpha `$ and an isorotation by $`\beta `$ by $`L(\alpha ,\beta )`$.

###### Lemma 3.8

Given the axially symmetric map (40) of degree $`B0`$ and a loop generated by rotations by $`\alpha `$ and isorotations by $`\beta `$ such that $`B\alpha \beta =2\pi k`$ for $`k`$. Then $`N(L(\alpha ,\beta ))`$ is given by

$$N(L(\alpha ,\beta ))=\frac{B}{2\pi }(B\alpha \beta ).$$
(55)
Proof: Rotations around the $`x_3`$-axis are particularly easy to handle. Let $`z_i`$ and $`p_j`$ be the zeros and poles of a rational map $`R`$. Then $`z\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi }z`$ changes the zeros and poles to $`\stackrel{~}{z}_i=\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi }z_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i=\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi }p_i`$. A rotation by $`\alpha `$ then induces a path $`L(\alpha ,0)`$. With equation (38) we obtain

$$N(L(\alpha ,0))=\frac{\alpha }{2\pi }B^2.$$
(56)
Note that this is true for any rational map $`RRat_B^{}`$.

Now, let $`z_n`$ and $`p_n`$ be the zeros and poles of $`R`$ in (40). Then the zeros and poles induced by the isorotation are given by

$`\stackrel{~}{z}_n`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{e}^{i\beta /B}z_n,`$ (57)
$`\stackrel{~}{p}_n`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{e}^{i\beta /B}p_n.`$ (58)
This induces a path $`L(0,\beta )`$. Then $`N(L(0,\beta ))`$ is given by

$$N(L(0,\beta ))=\frac{\beta }{2\pi }B.$$
(59)
For a given symmetry both $`N(L(\alpha ,0))`$ and $`N(L(0,\beta ))`$ need not be integers. However, since $`L(\alpha ,\beta )=L(\alpha ,0)+L(0,\beta )`$ is a loop, the homotopy invariant $`N(L(\alpha ,\beta ))`$ is an integer and is given by equation (55). This completes the proof of lemma 3.8. $`\mathrm{}`$

### 3.5 General Formula for $`N(L)`$

In this section we generalise the formula of lemma 3.8 to rational maps in $`Rat_B`$. First we discuss how to relate symmetric rational maps $`RRat_B`$ to symmetric maps $`\stackrel{~}{R}Rat_B^{}`$. Let $`RRat_B`$ have the following symmetry

$$R(z)=\stackrel{~}{M}\left(R\left(M(z)\right)\right),$$
(60)
where $`M`$ corresponds to a rotation by $`\alpha `$ around $`𝐧`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ is an isorotation by $`\beta `$ around $`𝐍`$. For $`\alpha 2\pi k`$ for $`k`$, $`M`$ only leaves the points

$$z_𝐧=\frac{n_1+in_2}{1+n_3}$$
(61)
and

$$z_𝐧=\frac{n_1+in_2}{1n_3}$$
(62)
fixed. Similarly, $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ only leaves $`R_{\pm 𝐍}`$ fixed, where $`R_{\pm 𝐍}`$ is defined as in (61) and (62), respectively. Therefore, equation (60) implies that $`R(z_𝐧)=R_{\pm 𝐍}`$. By redefining $`𝐍`$ and $`\beta `$ if necessary we set

$$R(z_𝐧)=R_𝐍.$$
(63)
###### Lemma 3.9

There are transformations $`\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}`$ and $`M_T`$ such that the map

$$\stackrel{~}{R}(\stackrel{~}{z})=\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R(M_T^1(\stackrel{~}{z})))$$
(64)
is invariant under

$$\stackrel{~}{R}(\stackrel{~}{z})=\stackrel{~}{M}_1(\stackrel{~}{R}(M_3(\stackrel{~}{z}))),$$
(65)
where $`\stackrel{~}{M}_1`$ is an isorotation by $`\beta `$ around the $`X_1`$-axis and $`M_3`$ is a rotation by $`\alpha `$ around the $`x_3`$-axis. Furthermore, $`\stackrel{~}{R}(\mathrm{})=1`$. $`\stackrel{~}{R}`$ is unique up to rotations around $`x_3`$ and isorotations around $`X_1`$.

Proof: $`M_T`$ is induced by the $`SO(3)`$ rotation

$$T:𝐧𝐧_3=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 0\\ 1\end{array}\right).$$
(66)
We can choose orthonormal vectors $`𝐧`$, $`𝐮`$, and $`𝐯`$ such that

$$T^1=T^t=(𝐮,𝐯,𝐧),$$
(67)
and $`detT=1`$. Similarly, $`\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}`$ is induced by

$$\stackrel{~}{T}:𝐍𝐍_1=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\\ 0\end{array}\right).$$
(68)
Again, we choose orthonormal vectors $`𝐍`$, $`𝐔`$, and $`𝐕`$, such that

$$\stackrel{~}{T}^1=(𝐍,𝐔,𝐕),$$
(69)
and $`det\stackrel{~}{T}=1`$. There is a $`U(1)\times U(1)`$ family of choices how to define $`𝐮`$ and $`𝐯`$, and $`𝐔`$ and $`𝐕`$. This is generated by rotations and isorotations around the symmetry axis $`𝐧`$ and $`𝐍`$. Now, we can express the rotations and isorotations as

$$M(z)=M_T^1(M_3(M_T(z)))$$
(70)
and

$$\stackrel{~}{M}(R)=\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}^1(\stackrel{~}{M}_1(\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R))),$$
(71)
where $`M_3`$ is a rotation by $`\alpha `$ around the $`x_3`$-axis and $`\stackrel{~}{M}_1`$ is an isorotation by $`\beta `$ around the $`X_1`$-axis. By inserting equations (70) and (71) into equation (60) and acting with $`\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}`$, we obtain

$$\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R(M_T^1(M_T(z))))=\stackrel{~}{M}_1(\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R(M_T^1(M_3(M_T(z)))))).$$
(72)
Setting $`\stackrel{~}{z}=M_T(z)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{R}(\stackrel{~}{z})=\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R(M_T^1\stackrel{~}{z}))`$ we have shown equation (65). Furthermore,

$$\stackrel{~}{R}(\mathrm{})=\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R(M_T^1(\mathrm{}))=\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{R}}(R(z_𝐧))=\stackrel{~}{M}_{\stackrel{~}{T}}(R_𝐍)=1.$$
(73)
$`\stackrel{~}{R}(z)`$ is unique up to the above mentioned $`U(1)\times U(1)`$ family of choices which corresponds to rotations around $`x_3`$ and isorotations around $`X_1`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

In order to uniquely define the rotation angle $`\alpha `$ we make the following choice. A rotation is expressed as $`\mathrm{exp}(i\alpha 𝐧𝐉)`$ where $`\alpha [2\pi ,2\pi ]`$ and the sign of $`𝐧`$ is chosen such that $`n_3>0`$ or $`n_3=0`$ and $`n_2>0`$ or $`n_1=1`$. Similarly, $`\beta [2\pi ,2\pi ]`$ and $`𝐍`$ is given by $`R(z_𝐧)`$. With the above lemmata we prove the following theorem.

###### Theorem 3.10

The value of $`N`$ for a given symmetry of a rational map $`RRat_B`$ only depends on the rotation angle $`\alpha `$ and the isorotation angle $`\beta `$, where the angles are defined such that $`R(z_𝐧)=R_𝐍`$. It is given by $`N=\frac{B}{2\pi }(B\alpha \beta )`$.

Proof: Let $`R_0`$ be a based rational map that is symmetric under a rotation by $`\alpha `$ followed by an isorotation by $`\beta `$. If this generates axial symmetry then we can apply lemma 3.8. We will now consider the case that the symmetry is finite.666A finite dimensional compact Lie group cannot have discrete subgroups of infinite order. Then $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ can be written as $`\alpha =2\pi m/n`$ and $`\beta =2\pi k/l`$ where $`k,m`$ and $`n,l`$.

In order to compute $`N(L)`$ we use the fact that $`N(L)`$ is an isomorphism. Rather than calculating $`N(L)`$ for $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ we calculate $`N(\stackrel{~}{L})`$ for $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }=nl\alpha `$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }=nl\beta `$, i.e. $`nl`$ times the original loop $`L`$. Then $`N(L)`$ is given by $`N(\stackrel{~}{L})/(nl)`$. The advantage of the new loop $`\stackrel{~}{L}`$ is that it contains complete $`U(1)\times U(1)`$ orbits of rotations and isorotations. Such orbits always generate closed loops.

Let $`R_0`$ be a based rational map. Since $`Rat_B^{}`$ is connected there is a path $`R_t`$ from the original map $`R_0`$ to a map with axial symmetry denoted by $`R_1`$. Since rotations and isorotations preserve the degree and rotations $`M_3`$ around $`x_3`$ and isorotations $`\stackrel{~}{M}_1`$ around $`X_1`$ preserve the base point, $`M_3`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{M}_1`$ give rise to a homotopy of loops $`\stackrel{~}{L}_t`$ starting at $`R_t`$ and generated by $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }`$. All the loops $`\stackrel{~}{L}_t`$ are well defined and closed, and $`\stackrel{~}{L}_0=\stackrel{~}{L}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{L}_1`$ is the loop for an axial symmetric map. We can apply the formula of lemma 3.8 to $`\stackrel{~}{L}_1`$ and obtain

$`N(L)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{N(\stackrel{~}{L})}{nl}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{nl}}{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2\pi }}(B\stackrel{~}{\alpha }\stackrel{~}{\beta })`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2\pi }}(B\alpha \beta ).`$
Now, let $`R`$ be an arbitrary rational map of degree $`B`$, i.e. $`RRat_B`$. Let its symmetry be a rotation by $`\alpha `$ around $`𝐧`$ and an isorotation by $`\beta `$ around $`𝐍`$ such that $`R(z_𝐧)=R_𝐍`$. Then we can use lemma 3.9 to transform $`RRat_B`$ into a map $`R_0`$ and calculate $`N`$ as above. This transformation is unique up to a $`U(1)\times U(1)`$ family of choices which does not change the value of $`N`$. This completes the proof of theorem 3.10. $`\mathrm{}`$

Formula (38) can also be used to calculate $`N`$ for a given symmetry numerically. We performed these calculations for the symmetries of Skyrmions up to $`B=10`$ and confirmed the results of theorem 3.10.

We will now explore a few simple consequences of theorem 3.10 and corollary 3.6. First note that the loop generated by a rotation (or isorotation) is homotopic to an element of the fundamental group of $`Rat_B`$, namely $`a^k`$ where $`a`$ is the generator of $`Rat_B`$ and $`k`$ is an integer. We know that $`a^{2k}=1`$, therefore, either $`kBmod2B`$ or $`k0mod2B`$.

Consider first a $`2\pi `$ rotation, i.e. $`N=B^2`$. If $`B`$ is even then

$$B^20mod2B$$
(74)
and the loop is contractible (even in $`Rat_B`$). If $`B`$ is odd then

$$\begin{array}{ccc}B1mod2& \mathrm{implies}\mathrm{that}& B^2Bmod2B\end{array}$$
(75)
so that the loop is non-contractible and is homotopic to $`a^B`$. Notice that for $`2\pi `$ isorotations we obtain $`N=B`$. Therefore, rotations by $`2\pi `$ and isorotations by $`2\pi `$ are homotopic in $`Rat_B`$ if and only if $`B`$ is odd.

With the aid of corollary 3.6 we recover the result of Giulini that rotations by $`2\pi `$ give rise to nontrivial loops if and only if $`B`$ is odd, . The same is true for isorotations by $`2\pi `$. In the following section, we will consider nontrivial loops due to symmetries of rational maps.

## 4 Results

In this section we use the results of the previous sections to construct the ground states and some excited states of the Skyrme model, which are compatible with the FR constraints. First we describe the construction, then we present our results in a table and compare them to the literature and experimental data.

### 4.1 Construction of Ground States

Battye and Sutcliffe have calculated the minimal energy rational maps for $`B`$ up to $`22`$, and these maps are unique up to arbitrary rotations and isorotations. Since only $`B=1`$ and $`B=2`$ have continuous symmetries and these cases are already extensively discussed in the literature, we restrict our attention to $`B>2`$. Only the following discrete symmetries occur empirically: Dihedral symmetry $`D_n`$ for $`2n6`$, tetrahedral symmetry $`T`$, octahedral symmetry $`O`$ and icosahedral symmetry $`Y`$. All these symmetry groups can be generated by two generators. In order to calculate the ground state for a given baryon number $`B`$ we perform the following steps:

1. Choose a representative $`R`$ of the minimal energy rational map.
2. Choose two generators of the symmetry group.
3. For each generator determine $`𝐧`$ and $`\alpha `$, and $`𝐍`$ and $`\beta `$ such that $`R(z_𝐧)=R_𝐍`$.
4. Calculate $`N`$ $`(\mathrm{mod}2)`$ for each generator. These are the FR constraints.
5. Decompose rotations and isorotations into irreducible representations.
6. Starting with the $`J=0`$ and $`I=0`$ (or $`J=\frac{1}{2}`$ and $`I=\frac{1}{2}`$) state calculate which states are allowed, that is are consistent with the imposed symmetry, using group theory.

In the following we describe how to calculate irreducible representations, see e.g. . Let $`D_{ij}(g)`$ be a matrix representation of a finite group $`G`$ of order $`|G|`$. Then $`\chi (g)=\mathrm{Tr}(D_{ij}(g))`$ is its character. Any representation of $`G`$ can be decomposed into irreducible representations with character $`\chi _i`$, and the following orthogonality relation holds:

$$\frac{1}{|G|}\underset{gG}{}\overline{\chi }_i(g)\chi _j(g)=\delta _{ij}.$$
(76)
The irreducible representations have been calculated for all the relevant groups, e.g. in the table in , also see  for the icosahedral group. We use the notation of  whereby one dimensional representations are labelled with an $`A`$ and two dimensional representations by $`E`$. In this context a  means that it is the representation of the double group, that is a $`2\pi `$ rotation gives rise to minus the identity.

There is a simple formula for characters of $`SU(2)`$ representations of dimension $`D`$. For a rotation by an angle $`\theta `$ around a unit vector $`𝐧`$ the character is given by

$$\chi \left(\mathrm{exp}\left(i\theta 𝐧𝐉\right)\right)=\frac{\mathrm{sin}\frac{D\theta }{2}}{\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}}.$$
(77)
There is a significant difference between rotations and isorotations. For even baryon numbers $`B`$ rotations by $`2\pi `$ are contractible. We can define an $`SU(2)`$ action on the homogeneous coordinates $`[p,q]`$. If $`B`$ is odd, then a rotation by $`2\pi `$ gives rise to $`[p,q]`$, whereas if $`B`$ is even, it gives $`[p,q]`$. Therefore, the $`SU(2)`$ representation of the symmetry group can always be mapped to an $`SO(3)`$ representation if $`B`$ is even. This implies that we can choose the two dimensional irreducible representation $`E_1^{}`$ of the double group to impose the symmetry.

For isorotations, the situation is different because $`2\pi `$ isorotations are always noncontractible in the space of rational maps, so a $`2\pi `$ isorotation always gives $`[p,q]`$. If $`B`$ is odd, the isospin transformation corresponds to a double group representation $`E_k^{}`$. However, if $`B`$ is even, it is given by a representation which is not in the double group.

Let $`g`$ be a rotation by $`\alpha `$ around $`𝐧`$ followed by an isorotation by $`\beta `$ around $`𝐍`$. Then we can calculate the FR constraints for the symmetry transformation, and we define

$$\chi _{FR}(g)=\{\begin{array}{cc}1& \mathrm{if}\mathrm{contractible},\hfill \\ 1& \mathrm{otherwise}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(78)
$`\chi _{FR}(g)`$ forms a one dimensional representation of the symmetry group, which is identical to its character.

Let the wave function $`\psi `$ transform under a tensor product of rotations and isorotations, namely the $`2J+1`$ dimensional representation $`J`$ and the $`2I+1`$ dimensional representation $`I`$. As shown in the previous section, $`I`$ and $`J`$ are integers if $`B`$ is even and half-integers if $`B`$ is odd. If a Skyrmion is invariant under a symmetry group then equation (8) imposes the following additional constraint on the wave function:

$$\mathrm{exp}\left(i\alpha 𝐧𝐉\right)\mathrm{exp}\left(i\beta 𝐍𝐈\right)\psi =\chi _{FR}(g)\psi .$$
(79)
The character of a tensor product is given by the product of the characters. Therefore, the number $`n`$ of representations for given quantum numbers $`J`$ and $`I`$ that are compatible with the FR constraints is

$$n=\frac{1}{|G|}\underset{gG}{}\overline{\chi }_{rot,J}(g)\overline{\chi }_{iso,I}(g)\chi _{FR}(g).$$
(80)
In the following we describe table 1. The first column is the baryon number $`B`$. In the second column, we display the symmetry of the rational map, and also the corresponding irreducible representations of rotations and isorotations. In the following two columns we show the value of $`N`$ for the two generators of the symmetry. We have chosen to display $`N`$ rather than $`Nmod2`$ because it contains some more information about how the symmetries are imposed. Yet, it is $`Nmod2`$ that implies the FR representation given in the last column.

For $`B=1`$ the FR constraints are trivial because an isorotation is equivalent to a rotation. Similarly, for $`B=2`$ a rotation by $`\alpha `$ corresponds to an isorotation by $`2\alpha `$, so that $`N`$ vanishes for axial symmetry. Yet, the $`C_2`$ rotation gives a non-trival value for $`N`$. For some values of $`B`$ there are additional ”excited” states labelled by $`B^{}`$. These are the particularly symmetric maps for $`B=5`$ and $`11`$ in Ref. , and also maps that are very close to minimal energy rational maps as mentioned in . These excited states $`B^{}`$ give an indication of how important the symmetry of a configuration is for determining its ground state.

### 4.2 Ground States for $`B=1,\mathrm{},22`$

Table 2 shows the ground states that have been calculated with our methods and compares our results to the experimental data in the table of isotopes . It is worth emphasising that nuclei with the same value of $`I`$ and $`J`$ are degenerate in the Skyrme model, since it only models the strong interaction. In other words, only the number of nucleons matters, not whether they are protons or neutrons. Table 2 is organised as follows. The first column gives the baryon number $`B`$ corresponding to the number of nucleons in the atomic nuclei. In the following three columns we display the ground state and two excited states which have been obtained from the zero mode quantization of the Skyrme model. The ground state is the state with the lowest value of $`I`$, i.e. either $`0`$ or $`\frac{1}{2}`$, and the lowest value of $`J`$ which is compatible with the constraints. One excited state is given by the second lowest value of $`J`$. The other excited state is given by the second lowest value of $`I`$, i.e. $`1`$ or $`\frac{3}{2}`$, and the lowest value of $`J`$ that is compatible with the constraints. This calculation makes assumptions about the relative magnitudes of $`U_{ij}`$, $`V_{ij}`$ and $`W_{ij}`$ in equation (10), see Sect. 2.2. These integrals have to be evaluated explicitly using the numerical solutions, and this might change the relative order of the states. Such calculations will be left for a future publication.

In the column “Experiment” we cite the ground state for a given baryon number and the following column gives the value for $`J`$ and $`I`$. For $`B=21`$ and $`B=22`$ the value of $`I`$ is not given in . We make the reasonable assumption that $`I=\frac{1}{2}`$ and $`I=1`$, respectively. The last column labelled “Match” has a black box when the Skyrme ground state agrees with experiment and otherwise shows the lowest nuclear state with the given values of $`I`$ and $`J`$. Here $``$ is short for first excited state, $``$ is the second excited state, etc. Nuclei in brackets are unstable. For some excited state the value of $`I`$ is missing in . Here we assume that it agrees with the value for the ground state. The values for $`B=1`$ and $`B=2`$ are taken from the literature, . Also note that the results agree with Carson  for $`B=3`$ and also with Irwin  who considered $`B=4`$ to $`9`$.777The only exception is that for $`B=4`$ we found an excited state $`|0|1`$ which is lower than the $`|2|1`$ state predicted in .

The results for even baryon number are promising. Our calculations of the ground state agree with experiment for all but three cases, namely $`B=10`$, $`18`$ and $`22`$. For $`B=10`$ calculations predict the state $`|1|0`$ rather than $`|3|0`$. It is difficult to see in our scheme why the $`|1|0`$ state should have higher energy than the $`|3|0`$ state. For $`B=18`$ the experimental ground state is $`|0|1`$ rather than $`|1|0`$. This deserves further investigation, because the ordering of the states makes assumptions about the integrals (12) – (14). Finally for $`B=22`$ our calculations predict a $`|1|0`$ state whereas the experimental ground state is probably a $`|0|1`$ state, which is incompatible with our results. Note that the value of the binding energy per nucleon has local peaks at $`B=4`$, $`8`$, $`12`$, $`16`$ and $`20`$. All these ground states are predicted correctly.

The results for odd baryon numbers are not as good. Our calculations agree with experiment for $`B=1`$, $`3`$, $`15`$, and $`19`$ but the disagree for $`B=5`$, $`7`$, $`9`$, $`11`$, $`13`$, $`17`$, and $`21`$. It is worth mentioning that for $`B=5`$ there is no stable nucleus, and in general atomic nuclei are more stable for even $`B`$ than for odd $`B`$. However, there are reasons to believe that the zero mode approximation is less reliable for odd $`B`$. For $`B=1`$ it has been argued by many authors that the correct energy to minimise is not the classical mass $`M`$ (given by $`E`$ in (1)) but the rotationally improved energy

$$\stackrel{~}{E}=M+\frac{1}{2\mathrm{\Theta }}I(I+1)+E_𝝅,$$
(81)
where $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the moment of inertia and $`E_𝝅`$ is the additional energy for including a pion mass term, see . A similar construction has to be implemented for $`B>1`$. This could deform the Skymion, change its symmetry and thereby change its ground state. For even $`B`$ this does not play such a big role as $`I=0`$ in the ground state so that the additional term does not contribute, and as a first approximation, the $`J`$ terms are assumed to be a smaller perturbation. For odd $`B`$, however, $`I=\frac{1}{2}`$ so that the term always has to be taken into account.888For a path integral derivation of the rotationally improved Skyrmion see Ref. .

## 5 Conclusion

In this paper we showed that it is possible to calculate the FR constraints directly from the rational map ansatz. The key idea is to think of the rational map ansatz as a suspension. We proved that a loop in configuration space $`Q_B^{}`$ is contractible if and only if it is homotopic to a suspension of a loop in $`Rat_B`$ which is an element of even order in $`\pi _1(Rat_B)`$. Even though the fundamental group of rational maps is more complicated than the fundamental group of configuration space it is nevertheless possible to derive a formula to calculate the homotopy class for loops generated by rotations and isorotations. It is worth emphasising that this formula is mathematically rigorous and there is no approximation involved. Therefore, the rational map ansatz is not only a good approximation to the minimal energy configurations, but it also captures important topology of the configuration space.

In order to quantize Skyrmions as described in Sect. 2.2 it is important to have an approximate moduli space, and it is here that approximations come into play. In this paper we chose the zero mode approximation which only takes the rotational and isorotational degrees of freedom into account, because this is the simplest nontrivial application of our results about FR constraints. In Sect. 4 we calculated the ground states of the Skyrme model for baryon numbers up to $`B=22`$. We found agreement with Irwin  who calculated the FR constraints using an analogy with monopoles. Our results agree with experiments for all even baryon numbers apart from $`B=10`$, $`18`$ and $`22`$. It also appears that the Skyrme model works best for stable nuclei. In the odd baryon sector, the results are not as promising. Yet, there are reasons why the zero mode approximation does not work as well for odd $`B`$, as discussed at the end of the previous section.

In the following we will comment on future work. In this paper we only relied on group theory making assumptions about the relative magnitude of integrals which involve the minimal energy configurations. With the numerical solutions in  it is possible to refine our results, verify the ground states, and calculate quantities such as mass, charge radii, and magnetic moments. By considering the reflection symmetries of Skyrmions the parity of the ground states can be calculated, . Finally, it is vital to go beyond the zero mode approximation. The problem of imposing FR constraints was solved in this paper, so the difficult question is how to find a suitable approximation to the Skyrmion moduli space.

The first step is to consider rotationally improved Skyrmions. These could change the symmetries of the configurations and therefore, give rise to improved ground states. These changes will be particularly significant for odd $`B`$ because in this case the contribution of isorotations to the energy cannot vanish.

Another possibility is to calculate the lowest vibrational modes of a Skyrmion and their frequencies . Then the excited states, and maybe even some ground states, are combinations of rotational and vibrational states. Another approach would be to construct a better approximation to the Skyrmion moduli space. For $`B=2`$ Manton has constructed a $`12`$ dimensional “unstable” manifold  which describes the configuration space of low energy configurations and can be thought of as a moduli space with a potential. Leese et al. found a $`10`$ dimensional submanifold which corresponds to Skyrmions in the attractive channel. In  the $`B=2`$ Skyrmion was quantized in this attractive channel approximation and the result was significantly better than in the zero mode approximation. Note that the moduli space of monopoles is conjectured to be related to the moduli space of attractive channel Skyrmions. Therefore, it might be possible to use monopole fields for quantizing Skyrmions.

## Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to N S Manton for suggesting the problem and for many helpful suggestions. The author also wants to thank J M Speight for numerous fruitful discussions and continuous support.