Entire vortex solutions of negative degree for the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau system (Q2149087)

The authors study entire solutions \(u : \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^2\) to the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau equation \[ \Delta u + \delta \nabla \left( \operatorname{div} u \right) + \delta \ \operatorname{curl}^* \left( \operatorname{curl} u \right) = \left( | u |^2 -1 \right) u \tag{1} \] for a fixed constant \(\delta \in (-1,1)\). The adjoint operator curl\(^*\) is defined as \(\operatorname{curl}^* = (\partial_2,-\partial_1)\). Equation (1) arises in the description of two-dimensional point defects in some liquid crystal configurations. The isotropic case \(\delta=0\) corresponds to the classical Ginzburg-Landau equation \[ \Delta u = \left( | u |^2 -1 \right)u. \] It is known that for any prescribed degree (or winding number) \(d = 0\), the isotropic Ginzburg-Landau equation admits a unique solution of the form \[ v_d(r e^{i \theta}) = \eta_d(r) e^{id\theta}, \quad \eta_d(0)=0, \quad \lim_{r \to +\infty} \eta_d(r)=1 \] and \(\eta_d \geq 0\). In this paper the authors prove that for every \(d=-1,-,2,\ldots\) there exists \(\delta_0(d)>0\) such that, for small enough anisotropy \(| \delta | < \delta_0(d)\), there are at least two distinct, smooth entire solutions \(u : \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^2\) of (1) satisfying \[ \int_{\mathbb{R}^2} \left( 1-| u |^2 \right)^2 < 2 \pi d^2, \quad \deg (u;\partial D_r)=d \text{ for }r \gg 1, \] where \(D_r\) is the disk of radius \(r\) in \(\mathbb{R}^2\).