title: Vortex collisions: crossing or recombination?
abstract: We investigate the collision of two vortex lines moving with viscous dynamics and driven towards each other by an applied current. Using London theory in the approach phase we observe a nontrivial vortex conformation producing antiparallel segments; their attractive interaction triggers a violent collision. The collision region is analyzed using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. While we find that vortices will always recombine through the exchange of segments, a crossing channel appears naturally through a double collision process.
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Physik, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bou-Diab
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dodgson
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blatter