Gamma‐convergence of gradient flows with applications to Ginzburg‐Landau

Abstract We present a method to prove convergence of gradient flows of families of energies that Γ‐converge to a limiting energy. It provides lower‐bound criteria to obtain the convergence that correspond to a sort of C 1 ‐order Γ‐convergence of functionals. We then apply this method to establish the limiting dynamical law of a finite number of vortices for the heat flow of the Ginzburg‐Landau energy in dimension 2, retrieving in a different way the existing results for the case without magnetic field and obtaining new results for the case with magnetic field. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.