On approximation of Ginzburg-Landau minimizers by ${\mathbb{S}}^1$-valued maps in domains with vanishingly small holes

Abstract

We consider a two-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau problem on an arbitrary domain with a finite number of vanishingly small circular holes. A special choice of scaling relation between the material and geometric parameters (Ginzburg-Landau parameter vs hole radius) is motivated by a recently dsicovered phenomenon of vortex phase separation in superconducting composites. We show that, for each hole, the degrees of minimizers of the Ginzburg-Landau problems in the classes of ${\mathbb{S}}^1$-valued and $\mathbb{C}$-valued maps, respectively, are the same. The presence of two parameters that are widely separated on a logarithmic scale constitutes the principal difficulty of the analysis that is based on energy decomposition techniques.