Point vortex interactions on a toroidal surface

Abstract

Owing to non-constant curvature and a handle structure, it is not easy to imagine intuitively how flows with vortex structures evolve on a toroidal surface compared with those in a plane, on a sphere and a flat torus. In order to cultivate an insight into vortex interactions on this manifold, we derive the evolution equation for N -point vortices from Green's function associated with the Laplace–Beltrami operator there, and we then formulate it as a Hamiltonian dynamical system with the help of the symplectic geometry and the uniformization theorem. Based on this Hamiltonian formulation, we show that the 2-vortex problem is integrable. We also investigate the point vortex equilibria and the motion of two-point vortices with the strengths of the same magnitude as one of the fundamental vortex interactions. As a result, we find some characteristic interactions between point vortices on the torus. In particular, two identical point vortices can be locally repulsive under a certain circumstance.