Waves on a vortex: rays, rings and resonances

Abstract

We study the scattering of surface water waves with irrotational draining vortices. At small depth, this system is a mathematical analogue of a rotating black hole and can be used to mimic some of its peculiar phenomena. Using ray-tracing methods, we exhibit the existence of unstable orbits around vortices at arbitrary depth. These orbits are the analogue of the light rings of a black hole. We show that these orbits come in pairs, one co-rotating and one counter-rotating, at an orbital radius that varies with the frequency. We derived an explicit formula for this radius in the deep-water regime. Our method is validated by comparison with recent experimental data from a wavetank experiment. We finally argue that these rings will generate a discrete set of damped resonances that we characterize and that could possibly be observed in future experiments.