On the Incompressible Fluid Limit and the Vortex Motion Law of the Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

Abstract:

The nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) has been a fundamental model for understanding vortex motion in superfluids. The vortex motion law has been formally derived on various physical grounds and has been around for almost half a century. We study the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the incompressible fluid limit on a bounded domain with Dirichlet or Neumann boundary condition. The initial condition contains any finite number of degree ± 1 vortices. We prove that the NLS linear momentum weakly converges to a solution of the incompressible Euler equation away from the vortices. If the initial NLS energy is almost minimizing, we show that the vortex motion obeys the classical Kirchhoff law for fluid point vortices. Similar results hold for the entire plane and periodic cases, and a related complex Ginzburg–Landau equation. We treat as well the semi-classical (WKB) limit of NLS in the presence of vortices. In this limit, sound waves propagate through steady vortices.