Low-energy vortex dynamics in the self-dual Chern–Simons–Higgs model

The relativistic Chern–Simons–Higgs theory finds application in anyonic superconductivity and contains topological vortices whose dynamics are poorly understood. The gauge fields are defined by a set of nonlinear constraint equations that can be accurately solved with effective Green’s functions, spectral methods, and a discretization scheme using lattice gauge techniques. Simulations show that low-energy two-vortex interactions are elastic with final scattering angles sensitive to vortex velocity; furthermore, vortex pairs form rotating breather states for certain impact parameters. In this study, a function that reproduces scattering angles in the adiabatic limit for nontangential collisions is presented. Simulation results are discussed in the context of analytical methods that extract vortex dynamics from low-energy effective Lagrangians, and a numerical method to calculate the effective Lagrangian is suggested. The numerical techniques used can be applied to the study of other Chern–Simon theories.