The geometry of the space of vortices on a two-sphere in the Bradlow limit (Q6076992)

Vortices are the simplest class of topological solitons arising in gauge theory, making them interesting objects of mathematical study, independent of their phenomenological applications in condensed matter physics and cosmology. At critical coupling, they satisfy a self-duality type condition which implies that static vortices exert no net force on one another. The moduli space \(M_n\) of static \(n\)-vortex solutions is thus exceptionally large, forming a complex \(n\)-manifold. There is a well-developed program for studying their low energy dynamics in this context, comprehending classical, quantum and statistical mechanics. The key object underpinning this program is a natural Riemannian metric \(g\), which is an \(L^2\)-metric on \(M_n\), obtained by restricting the model's kinetic energy functional to \(TM_n\). Vortex dynamics is modelled by geodesic motion in \((M_n,g)\). The authors prove that the normalized \(L^2\) metric on the moduli space of \(n\)-vortices on a two-sphere, endowed with any Riemannian metric, converges uniformly in the Bradlow limit to the Fubini-Study metric.