Choreographies in the $n$-vortex Problem
2018, Volume 23, Number 5, pp. 595-612
Author(s): Calleja R., Doedel E., García-Azpeitia C.
Author(s): Calleja R., Doedel E., García-Azpeitia C.
We consider the equations of motion of $n$ vortices of equal circulation in the plane,
in a disk and on a sphere. The vortices form a polygonal equilibrium in a rotating frame
of reference. We use numerical continuation in a boundary value setting to determine the
Lyapunov families of periodic orbits that arise from the polygonal relative equilibrium. When
the frequency of a Lyapunov orbit and the frequency of the rotating frame have a rational
relationship, the orbit is also periodic in the inertial frame. A dense set of Lyapunov orbits,
with frequencies satisfying a Diophantine equation, corresponds to choreographies of $n$ vortices.
We include numerical results for all cases, for various values of $n$, and we provide key details
on the computational approach.
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