The World of Baby Skyrmions:. Numerical Studies of (2+1)D Topological Skyrme-like Solitons

This is one of the 'New Talents' seminars at 'Erice International School of Subnuclear Physics 1999' and looks at numerical studies of (2+1)D topological Skyrme-like solitons; the baby skyrmions. We explain the concept of integrable and topological solitons. Then we introduce the non-linear σ model in 2D in order to discuss the 3D nuclear Skyrme model. We explain that the baby Skyrme models can be viewed as a (2+1)D version of the Skyrme model. We describe the numerical methods needed to study the baby skyrmions. Finally, we present some results on skyrmion scattering and our work on skyrmions with higher topological charge.