BABY SKYRMION STRINGS

We consider two limiting cases of the 2+1 dimensional analog of the Sk yrme model, where we show the existence of string-like solutions to th e equations of motion. The model contains a conserved topological char ge usually called the baryon number. Our strings are solitons which ha ve a constant baryon number per unit length. In one limiting case, our configuration saturates a Bogomolnyi-type bound and is degenerate in energy per baryon with the baby Skyrmion which is the analog of the sp herically symmetric Skyrmion soliton. Hence here the string is energet ically stable. In the other limiting case these energies are still deg enerate but neither saturates the corresponding Bogomolnyi-type bound. Here we find invariance under area preserving diffeomorphisms. Both c ases are solvable analytically. For intermediate ranges of the paramet ers we provide numerical evidence of the existence of the string-like configurations in a region of the parameter space. We speculate that t he string is classically stable here as the energy per length containi ng one baryon is less than the energy of an isolated baryon (radially symmetric ''baby Skyrmion'').