Global Jacobian and $Γ$-convergence in a two-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau model for boundary vortices

Abstract

In the theory of $2D$ Ginzburg-Landau vortices, the Jacobian plays a crucial role for the detection of topological singularities. We introduce a related distributional quantity, called the global Jacobian that can detect both interior and boundary vortices for a $2D$ map $u$. We point out several features of the global Jacobian, in particular, we prove an important stability property. This property allows us to study boundary vortices in a $2D$ Ginzburg-Landau model arising in thin ferromagnetic films, where a weak anchoring boundary energy penalising the normal component of $u$ at the boundary competes with the usual bulk potential energy. We prove an asymptotic expansion by $Γ$-convergence at the second order for this mixed boundary/interior energy in a regime where boundary vortices are preferred. More precisely, at the first order of the limiting expansion, the energy is quantised and determined by the number of boundary vortices detected by the global Jacobian, while the second order term in the limiting energy expansion accounts for the interaction between the boundary vortices.