Stability of Leapfrogging Vortex Pairs: A Semi-analytic Approach

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the stability of leapfrogging vortex pairs in the four-vortex problem, using a semi-analytic approach to confirm the bifurcation point related to the golden ratio.

Contribution

It introduces a semi-analytic method employing Hill's harmonic balance to precisely determine the bifurcation value in vortex leapfrogging stability.

Findings

Confirmed the bifurcation occurs at 1/α = φ^2, where φ is the golden ratio.

Developed a high-order asymptotic approximation method for stability analysis.

Provided a more explicit form of the Floquet problem for vortex stability.

Abstract

We investigate the stability of a one-parameter family of periodic solutions of the four-vortex problem known as `leapfrogging' orbits. These solutions, which consist of two pairs of identical yet oppositely-signed vortices, were known to W.\ Gr\"obli (1877) and A.\ E.\ H.\ Love (1883), and can be parameterized by a dimensionless parameter $\alpha$ related to the geometry of the initial configuration. Simulations by Acheson (2000) and numerical Floquet analysis by Toph{\o}j and Aref (2012) both indicate, to many digits, that the bifurcation occurs when $1/\alpha=\phi^2$, where $\phi$ is the golden ratio. This study aims to explain the origin of this remarkable value. Using a trick from the gravitational two-body problem, we change variables to render the Floquet problem in an explicit form that is more amenable to analysis. We then implement G. W. Hill's method of harmonic balance to high order using computer algebra to construct a rapidly-converging sequence of asymptotic approximations to the bifurcation value, confirming the value found earlier.