A FREE-FIELD REPRESENTATION OF THE SCREENING CURRENTS OF U-Q((SL(3))OVER-CAP)

We construct five independent screening currents associated with the U -q(<sl(3)over cap>) quantum current algebra. The screening currents ar e expressed as exponentials of the eight basic deformed bosonic fields that are required in the quantum analog of the Wakimoto realization o f the current algebra. Four of the screening currents are ''simple,'' in that each one is given as a single exponential field. The fifth is expressed as an infinite sum of exponential fields. For reasons which we will discuss, we expect that the structure of the screening current s for a general quantum affine algebra will be similar to the U-q(<sl( 3)over cap>) case.