ATTRACTIVE CHANNEL SKYRMIONS AND THE DEUTERON

The deuteron is described as a quantum state on a ten-dimensional mani fold Mlo of Skyrme fields of degree two, which are obtained by calcula ting the holonomy of SU(2) instantons. The manifold Mlo includes both toroidal configurations of minimal energy and configurations which are approximately the product of two Skyrmions in the most attractive rel ative orientation. The quantum Hamiltonian is of the form -Delta + V, where Delta is the covariant Laplace operator on Mlo and V is the pote ntial which Mlo inherits from the Skyrme potential energy functional. Quantum states are complex-valued functions on the double cover of Mlo satisfying certain constraints. There is a unique bound state with th e quantum numbers of the deuteron, and its binding energy is approxima tely 6 MeV. Some of the deuteron's electrostatic and magnetostatic pro perties are also calculated and compared with experiment.