Stability of Relative Equilibria of Point Vortices on a Sphere and Symplectic Integrators

Marsden, J. E., S. Pekarsky, and S. Shkoller

Il Nuovo Cimento, 22, 6

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the dynamics of N point vortices moving on a sphere from the point of view of geometric mechanics. The formalism is developed for the general case of N vortices, and the details are provided for the (integrable) case N = 3. Stability of relative equilibria is analyzed by the energy-momentum method. Explicit criteria for stability of different configurations with generic and non-generic momenta are obtained. In each case, a group of transformations is specied, such that motion in the original (unreduced) phase space is stable modulo this group. Finally, we outline the construction of a symplectic-momentum integrator for vortex dynamics on a sphere.