Sphalerons in the Skyrme model

Numerical methods are used to compute sphaleron solutions of the Skyrme model. These solutions have topological charge zero and are axially symmetric, consisting of an axial charge n Skyrmion and an axial charge -n anti-Skyrmion (with n > 1), balanced in unstable equilibrium. The energy is slightly less than twice the energy of the axially symmetric charge n Skyrmion. A similar configuration with n = 1 does not produce a sphaleron solution, and this difference is explained by considering the interaction of asymptotic pion dipole fields. For sphaleron solutions with n > 4, the positions of the Skyrmion and anti-Skyrmion merge to form a circle, rather than isolated points, and there are some features in common with Hopf solitons of the Skyrme-Faddeev model.