Vortex Dynamics for the Ginzburg-Landau-Schrödinger Equation

Abstract

The initial value problem for the Ginzburg-Landau-Schrödinger equation is examined in the $ε\rightarrow 0$ limit under two main assumptions on the initial data $ϕ^ε$. The first assumption is that $ϕ^ε$ exhibits $m$ distinct vortices of degree $\pm 1$; these are described as points of concentration of the Jacobian $[Jϕ^ε]$ of $ϕ^ε$. Second, we assume energy bounds consistent with vortices at the points of concentration. Under these assumptions, we identify ``vortex structures'' in the $ε\rightarrow 0$ limit of $ϕ^ε$ and show that these structures persist in the solution $u^ε(t)$ of $GLS_ε$. We derive ordinary differential equations which govern the motion of the vortices in the $ε\rightarrow 0$ limit. The limiting system of ordinary differential equations is a Hamitonian flow governed by the renormalized energy of Bethuel, Brezis and Hélein. Our arguments rely on results about the structural stability of vortices which are proved in a separate paper.