A calculation of the deuteron as a biskyrmion

An ab initio calculation of the deuteron has been made using the Skyrme-Witten model without assuming any a priori symmetries of the configuration. Two B=1 skyrmions are placed on a three-dimensional lattice and a numerical relaxation procedure is used to find the minimum energy configuration. Using no free parameters, we find a well-depth, range, binding energy, and quadrupole moment in reasonably satisfactory agreement with deuteron properties. Although the product ansatz is used initially, it is discovered that the relaxed configuration no longer appears to be that of a product of chiral fields. (orig.)