An improved harmonic map ansatz

The rational map ansatz of Houghton et al. [Nucl. Phys. B 510 (1998) 507] is generalised by allowing the profile function, usually a function of r, to depend also on z and z¯. It is shown that, within this ansatz, the energies of the lowest B=2,3,4 field configurations of the SU(2) Skyrme model are closer to the corresponding values of the true solutions of the model than those obtained within the original rational map ansatz. In particular, we present plots of the profile functions which do exhibit their dependence on z and z¯. The obvious generalisation of the ansatz to higher SU(N) models involving the introduction of more projectors is briefly mentioned.