Minimization of a Ginzburg-Landau type functional with nonvanishing Dirichlet boundary condition (Q1271825)

Let \(G\) be a bounded, simply connected smooth domain in \textbf{R}\(^2\) and let \(g\) be a smooth boundary data with complex values. The paper deals with the minimization of the Ginzburg-Landau functional \[ E_\varepsilon (u)=\frac{1}{2}\int_G| \nabla u| ^2+\frac{1}{4\varepsilon^2}\int_G(1-| u| ^2)^2 \] with respect to the class \[ H^1_g=\{ u\in H^1; u=g \text{ on } \partial G\} . \] This problem has been intensively studied in the last few years, but under the additional assumption that \(g\) has values in \(S^1\). The novelty of this paper is that \(g\) is not necessarily \(S^1\)-valued, but it never vanishes, so the topological degree (winding number) \(d\) of \(g/| g| \) with respect to the origin is well defined. It is considered in the paper only the more interesting case \(d\not=0\), so it can be assumed without loss of generality that \(d>0\). The main idea in the analysis carried out by the authors is the decomposition of the energy \(E_\varepsilon (u_\varepsilon)\) into two terms. The first is like \(\pi d | \log \varepsilon | +O(1)\) and is due to the topological degree \(d\) of \(g/| g| \). The second term is of the order \(O(1/\varepsilon)\) and it is due to the boundary interaction. This reduces the initial problem to the study of two minimization problems. The scalar problem is easy while the second minimization problem involves a modified Ginzburg-Landau type functional. The main result of the paper gives a complete description of the asymptotic behaviour of minimizers as \(\varepsilon\rightarrow 0\) and shows the existence of exactly \(d\) vortices at the limit.