Collective Dynamics of Vortex Clusters on a Flat Torus: From Pair Interactions to a Quadrupole Description

Abstract: We investigate a Hamiltonian formulation of vortex interactions on a doubly periodic inviscid fluid domain, based on an exact interaction expressed in terms of the Schottky-Klein prime function and its q-representation. The two-vortex problem is reduced to a single complex degree of freedom, from which explicit expressions for the orbital rotation frequency and dipole translation velocity are obtained and verified against simulations. Building on this framework, we derive a small-cluster expansion that reveals a universal decomposition of the dynamics into planar interactions, isotropic torus corrections, and geometry-induced anisotropic modes. At leading order, the collective dynamics admits a closed description in terms of a single complex quadrupole moment: its real part governs the corrections to the rotation rate, while its imaginary part controls the slow breathing of the cluster. These predictions are quantitatively confirmed by direct numerical simulations, establishing a reduced description of vortex clusters on the flat torus and compact fluid domains.