Co-rotating Vortices on Surfaces of Variable Negative Curvature: Hamiltonian Structure and Drift Dynamics

Abstract: Vortices in fluids and superfluids underpin phenomena ranging from Bose--Einstein condensates and superfluid films to neutron stars and hydrodynamic micro-rotors, where geometry can strongly influence their motion. Curvature can induce vortex motion with no planar analogue. We study Hamiltonian vortex motion on a catenoid, a minimal surface of variable negative curvature, and derive explicit equations of motion, conserved quantities, and reductions for co-rotating vortex pairs. For two identical vortices we find an exact antipodal solution in which the pair rotates rigidly at fixed latitude, with angular velocity $Ω=(Γ/16π)\,K'(V)/\sqrt{-K(V)}$, where $K(V)$ is the Gaussian curvature. Thus the motion is governed by the curvature gradient rather than the curvature itself. The symmetric state is linearly unstable, with growth rate $λ=\sqrt{3}|Ω|$, in agreement with numerical simulations. For generic equal-strength pairs, conservation of the Hamiltonian and rotational momentum reduces the nonlinear dynamics to a single quadrature, yielding bounded relative oscillations together with a secular azimuthal drift. Simulations of the full equations confirm the reduced theory and reveal the same curvature-induced transport mechanism in a localized many-vortex cluster, motivating a broader theory of collective vortex drift on curved surfaces.