Vector Mesons in the Skyrme Model.

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. This thesis contains an investigation of vector mesons in the Skyrme model. The omega together with the rho and A _1 mesons are included and the values of the coupling constants are determined using experimental values of the decay widths for omega to pi^{+}pi^0pi ^{-} and rho to pipi. These values are then used to predict the decay width for A_1 to rhopi which is found to be approximately half the experimental value. These values are then used in the determination by a variational procedure of the nucleon and delta masses predicted by the model. It is found that the masses predicted are approximately 70% larger than the experimental values. This is a considerably larger difference than that found in the simpler model where only the pions and the omega meson are included.