Solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equations with vorticity concentrating near a nondegenerate geodesic (Q7011648)

The authors of this interesting paper study certain geometrically meaningful solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL for short) equations of the form:\N\[\N-\Delta u_{\varepsilon}+\varepsilon^{-2} (|u_{\varepsilon}|^2-1)u_{\varepsilon}=0\tag{i}\N\]\Nfor \(u_{\varepsilon}: M\to \mathbb{C}\), where \((M,g)\) is a closed \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold with \(n=3\). Actually the stated solutions are critical points of the GL functional:\N\[\NE_{\varepsilon}(u) = \pi^{-1}|\log |^{-1}\int_{M} e_{\varepsilon}(u)\mathrm{vol}_{g},\tag{ii}\N\]\Nwhere \(e_{\varepsilon}(u)=(1/2)|\nabla u|^2+ (4\varepsilon )^{-2}(|u_{\varepsilon}|^2-1)^2\). Note that if \(M\) is simply connected, then given a sequence \(\{u_{\varepsilon}\}\) of solutions of (i) satisfying the energy bound \(E_{\varepsilon}(u_\varepsilon)\leq C\), the rescaled energy density \(|\log \varepsilon|^{-1}e_{\varepsilon} (u_{\varepsilon})\) is known to concentrate as \(\varepsilon\to 0\) after passing to a subsequence, around an \((n-2)\)-dimensional stationary varifold. More complicated results would be of interest when \(M\) is not simply connected. Then, the limiting energy measure may have a diffuse part. Any concentrated part should be an \((n-2)\)-dimensional stationary varifold. \N\NThe authors pose a mysterious question: ``When can a given codimension 2 minimal surface be realized as the energy concentration set of a sequence of solutions of (i)?'' \N\NOne of the answers is provided by gamma-convergence results concerning the GL functional (ii) and the \((n-2)\)-dimensional area of a limiting vorticity concentration set, where the vorticity associated to a wave function \(u\), denoted \(Ju\) (Jacobian of \(u\)), is the 2-form defined by\N \[\NJu=du^1 \wedge du^2,\N\] \Nwhere \(u=u^1+iu^2\) and \(u=u^1\cdot u^2\) are real-valued \N[\textit{R. L. Jerrard} and \textit{H. M. Soner}, Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 14, No. 2, 151--191 (2002; Zbl 1034.35025); \textit{G. Alberti} et al., Indiana Univ. Math. J. 54, No. 5, 1411--1472 (2005; Zbl 1160.35013)]. \NA basic case of interest concerns the GL equations (i) on a smooth bounded domain \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^3\) containing an unstable geodesic w.r.t. natural boundary conditions. A line segment in \(\Omega\) meeting \(\partial\Omega\) orthogonally at both ends, admitting perturbations that decrease the arclength quadratically, and satisfying a natural nondegeneracy condition.\N\NThe main result is the following:\N\NLet \((M,g)\) be a closed oriented 3-dimensional Riemannian manifold, and \(\gamma \) a closed, embedded, nondegenerate geodesic of length \(L\), where \(\gamma = \partial S\) for some 2-dimensional orientable submanifold \(S\) of \(M\). Then, there exists \(\varepsilon_1>0\) such that for every \(0<\varepsilon <\varepsilon_1\) there is a solution \(u_{\varepsilon}\) of the GL equations (i) such that \N\[\N\pi^{-1}\int_{M} \varphi\wedge Ju_{\varepsilon} \to \int_{\gamma}\varphi\N\] \Nfor every smooth 1-form \(\varphi\) on \(M\) and \N\[\N\pi^{-1}|\log\varepsilon |^{-1} \int_{M} \phi e_{\varepsilon}(u_{\varepsilon}) \to \int_{\gamma}\phi d\mathcal{H}^1\N\] \Nfor every \(\phi \in C^{\infty}(M)\) as \(\varepsilon\to 0\), where \(\mathcal{H}^1\) denotes 1-dimensional Hausdorff measure.