Dynamics of baby Skyrmions

Abstract Baby Skyrmions are topological solitons in a (2+1)-dimensional field theory which resembles the Skyrme model in important respects. We apply some of the techniques and approximations commonly used in discussions of the Skyrme model to the dynamics of baby Skyrmions and directly test them against numerical simulations. Specifically we study the effect of spin on the shape of a single baby Skyrmmion, the dependence of the forces between two baby Skyrmions on the baby Skyrmions' relative orientation and the forces between two baby Skyrmions when one of them is spinning.