THE NUCLEON MASS IN THE SKYRME MODEL

Zero-point energy corrections to the nucleon mass due to quantum fluct uations around the classical soliton are evaluated. In 3 + 1 dimension s the ultraviolet divergencies require a further subtraction term, in addition to the two subtractions known from 1 + 1 dimensional models. The mass corrections arising from the continuous spectrum are approxim ated by classical phase-space integrals. They amount to about 20% of t he zero mode contributions. Altogether (for f(pi) = 93 MeV and Skyrme parameter e approximately 3.5) the quantum fluctuations compensate the large values of the soliton mass and allow for a nucleon mass around 900 MeV.