Anomalous Energetics and Dynamics of Moving Vortices

Motivated by the general problem of moving topological defects in an otherwise ordered state and specifically, by the anomalous dynamics observed in vortex-antivortex annihilation and coarsening experiments in freely suspended smectic-C films, I study the deformation, energetics, and dynamics of moving vortices in an overdamped XY model and show that their properties are significantly and qualitatively modified by the motion.