Skyrmion dynamics on the unstable manifold and the nucleon-nucleon interaction

The unstable manifold of the B=2 sector of the Skyrme model is constructed numerically using the gradient-flow method. Following paths of steepest descent from the B=2 hedgehog, we apply a collective coordinate description for the motion on the manifold to extract a Hamiltonian, approximately valid for the quantum description of the low-energy nucleon-nucleon interaction. The resulting potential - obtained in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation - is in qualitative agreement with phenomenological potentials.