Vortex cutting in superconductors

Vortex cutting and reconnection is an intriguing and still-unsolved problem central to many areas of classical and quantum physics, including hydrodynamics, astrophysics, and superconductivity. Here, we describe a comprehensive investigation of the crossing of magnetic vortices in superconductors using time dependent Ginsburg-Landau modeling. Within a macroscopic volume, we simulate initial magnetization of an anisotropic high temperature superconductor followed by subsequent remagnetization with perpendicular magnetic fields, creating the crossing of the initial and newly generated vortices. The time resolved evolution of vortex lines as they approach each other, contort, locally conjoin, and detach, elucidates the fine details of the vortex-crossing scenario under practical situations with many interacting vortices in the presence of weak pinning. Our simulations also reveal left-handed helical vortex instabilities that accompany the remagnetization process and participate in the vortex crossing events.