Vortex collisions and energy-dissipation rates in the Ginzburg-Landau heat flow. I: Study of the perturbed Ginzburg-Landau equation (Q997825)

The paper is dealing with the Ginzburg-Landau equation with real coefficients, \[ | \ln\varepsilon| ^{-1}u_t = \Delta u +\varepsilon^{-2}(1-| u| ^2)u, \] for complex function \(u\), where \(\varepsilon\) is a formal small parameter. Important solutions to the two-dimensional version of the equation represent vortices, i.e., solutions with a zero of \(| u| \) at some point (the center of the vortex), and phase circulation of \(2\pi\) around it. This equation belongs to the ``gradient'' type, i.e., one can define the Lyapunov functional (``Ginzburg-Landau energy''), \[ E= \frac 12 \int\left [| \nabla u| ^2 +(2\varepsilon^2)^{-1}(1 - | u| ^2)^2\right ]\,dV, \] which evolves in time according to \[ \frac{dE}{dt} = -| \ln\varepsilon| \int\left| \Delta u +\varepsilon^{-2} u(1-| u| ^2)\right| ^2\,dV \equiv -J. \] The aim of the paper is to derive some estimates for the ``energy'' and the energy dissipation rate \(J\). Using a technique based on the so-called Pokhozhaev identities, an upper bound is found for \(E\), and a lower bound id derived for \(J\), for an ``unbalanced'' multi-vortex configuration.