Nondegeneracy and Morse Index of Ginzburg--Landau Vortices

Abstract

We prove that the standard degree-two and degree-three vortex solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equation are nondegenerate. Their Morse indices are also computed. The proof relies on new explicit upper and lower bounds of the modulus of these solutions and a comparison argument. It is expected that our method can be generalized to study higher degree solutions.