Symmetry Breaking of Vortex Patterns in a Rotating Harmonic Potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates how vortex patterns in a rotating harmonic potential become unstable and break symmetry, affecting vortex configurations and stability, using numerical simulations of Ginzburg-Landau equations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the occurrence of symmetry-breaking instabilities in vortex patterns within rotating harmonic potentials and their impact on vortex stability and configurations.

Findings

Vortex lattice configurations change due to symmetry-breaking instabilities.

Some vortices move away from the potential, leading to annihilation.

Symmetry-breaking instabilities also occur in complex Ginzburg-Landau equations.

Abstract

We numerically study the symmetry breaking instabilities of vortex patterns in a rotating harmonic potential using a type of Ginzburg-Landau equation. The configurations of vortex lattices change markedly by the symmetry-breaking instabilities, and then, some vortices move away from the confinement potential, which leads to the annihilation of vortices. The symmetry-breaking instabilities and the instabilities of vortex nucleation determine the parameter region of stable vortex patterns. We verify that the symmetry-breaking instabilities also occur in a type of complex Ginzburg-Landau equation.