# Topological Invariants in Microscopic Transport on Rough Landscapes: Morphology, Hierarchical Structure, and Horton Analysis of River-like Networks of Vortices

\[

## Abstract

River basins as diverse as the Nile, the Amazon, and the Mississippi satisfy certain topological invariants known as Horton’s Laws. Do these macroscopic (up to $`10^3`$ km) laws extend to the micron scale? Through realistic simulations, we analyze the morphology and hierarchical properties of networks of vortex flow in flux-gradient-driven superconductors. We derive a phase diagram of the different network morphologies, including one in which Horton’s laws of length and stream number are obeyed—even though these networks are about $`10^9`$ times smaller than geophysical river basins.

\]

Introduction.— The nature of river basins, including their physical structure and evolution, has been a problem of major interest to civilized societies throughout history. Horton’s laws are perhaps one of the most intriguing properties of river networks . In order to apply them to a network, the individual streams composing the network must be identified and labeled with an order number, as in the top left corner of Fig. 1(a). The lowest order streams are the smallest outlying tributaries on the edges of the network, according to the Strahler ordering scheme. At each point where two tributary streams join, a new stream begins. Whenever two tributaries of the same order meet, the outgoing stream has an order number one higher than that of the tributaries. If two tributaries of different orders meet, the outgoing stream has the same order number as the higher ordered tributary. Eventually, all streams in the network combine to form the highest order (main) stream. The number of streams of order $`w`$ is $`N_w`$, while $`L_w`$ is the average length of streams of order $`w`$. Horton’s laws state that the bifurcation ratio $`R_B`$ and the length ratio $`R_L`$, given by $`R_B=N_w/N_{w+1}`$ and $`R_L=L_{w+1}/L_w`$, are constant, or independent of $`w`$. These ratios also provide the fractal dimension  of the rivers $`D_FlogR_B/\mathrm{log}R_L`$. Geophysical river basins  typically have values of $`R_B4`$ and $`R_L2`$. Do these (Horton’s) laws apply to microscopic landscapes? Here we present evidence that these macroscopic laws are obeyed at the microscopic scale by river-like networks of flowing quantized magnetic flux. 

Vortex River Basins.— Near the depinning transition, magnetic vortices in type-II superconductors move in intricate flow patterns that have been seen both in computer simulations and in experiments, including finger-like or dendritic shapes as well as the filamentary flow of vortices in river-like paths and networks (see, e.g.,  and references therein). Despite the ubiquity of the river-like pathways produced by the vortex motion, very little work has been done towards characterizing the morphology of these flow patterns. Moreover, concepts and ideas used for decades to characterize geophysical river basins have not been applied to the study of the microscopic flow through tree–shaped channel networks. This is surprising since the underlying physics of vortex and geological rivers offers striking similarities: driven non-equilibrium dissipative systems displaying branched (or ramified) transport among metastable states on a rough landscape . One is driven by the Lorentz force and the other by gravity. Like geophysical rivers, vortex flow basins exhibit sinuosity (i.e., tortuosity), anabranching, braiding, occasional sudden floods, and other features that make them remarkably similar to geophysical rivers . Indeed, some satellite photographs of river basins are strikingly similar to the channels produced by vortex motion. However, significant differences also exist, including: flow direction, quantized flux flow versus continuum water flow, compressible vortex lattice versus incompressible fluid, negligible inertia with overdamped vortex dynamics versus massive fluid, non-erosional versus erosional landscape, peripheral flux sources versus uniform rain, and correlated long-range versus short-range interactions (so the rapidly varying vortex–vortex repulsion landscape smoothes out the underlying static pinscape). This strongly-correlated vortex dynamics generates flux motion that can be either continuous-flow type, like water, or intermittent stick-slip-type motion—depending on the balance of forces. Also, vortices typically move over relatively flat landscapes with many divots, as opposed to the mountain-range-like very rough landscapes of some geophysical rivers. Moreover, vortex river basins occur inside materials at approximate scales between 1 to 100 $`\mu `$m, much smaller than geophysical river basins (of up to $`10^3`$ km)—and also spanning a smaller range of length scales. Thus, given these numerous similarities and differences, it is very unclear a priori which macroscopic results carry over to the microscopic domain.

By conducting realistic simulations of slowly driven vortices moving over many samples, we have identified several distinct network phases. These vortex basins appear in the initial penetrating front of vortices. Remarkably, we find that: for a wide range of parameters networks of vortex channels obey Horton’s laws just as geophysical river networks do. This is remarkable, given the many physical differences between basins of flux quanta and geophysical rivers and that they move over very different types of potential-energy landscapes. Unlike previous work, here we first present a detailed list of analogies and differences between river basins and networks of vortex channels. Afterwards, we present the first morphological phase diagram for vortex motion. Finally, we analyze the hierarchical structure of the vortex channels.

Simulation.— We model a transverse 2D slice (in the $`x`$$`y`$ plane) of an infinite zero-field-cooled $`T=0`$ superconducting slab containing flux-gradient-driven 3D rigid vortices that are parallel to the sample edge . Vortices are added at the surface at periodic time intervals, and enter the superconducting slab under the force of their own mutual repulsion . The slab is $`36\lambda \times 36\lambda `$ in size, where $`\lambda `$ is the penetration depth. The vortex-vortex repulsive interaction is correctly modeled by a modified Bessel function, $`K_1(r/\lambda )`$. The vortices also interact with 972 non-overlapping attractive parabolic wells of radius $`\xi _p=0.3\lambda `$. The density of pins $`n_p`$ is $`n_p=0.75/\lambda ^2`$. All pins in a given sample have the same maximum pinning force $`f_p`$, which ranged from $`f_p=0.3f_0`$ to $`f_p=6.0f_0`$ in thirteen different samples. For each sample type, we considered five realizations of disorder. Thus, the five points at each pinning force, delineating the broad crossover boundary between Hortonian and braided phases in Fig. 2, refer to these five realizations of disorder. A sixth point, indicating the average value from the five trials, is not visible when it overlaps with another point. We measure all forces in units of $`f_0=\mathrm{\Phi }_0^2/8\pi ^2\lambda ^3`$, magnetic fields in units of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^2`$, and lengths in units of the penetration depth $`\lambda `$. Here, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is the flux quantum.

The overdamped equation of vortex motion is $`𝐟_i=𝐟_i^{vv}+𝐟_i^{vp}=\eta 𝐯_i`$, where the total force $`𝐟_i`$ on vortex $`i`$ (due to other vortices $`𝐟_i^{vv}`$, and pinning sites $`𝐟_i^{vp}`$) is given by $`𝐟_i`$ $`=_{j=1}^{N_v}f_0K_1(|𝐫_i𝐫_j|/\lambda )\widehat{𝐫}_{ij}+`$ $`_{k=1}^{N_p}(f_p/\xi _p)|𝐫_i𝐫_k^{(p)}|`$ $`\mathrm{\Theta }\left[\xi _p|𝐫_i𝐫_k^{(p)}|\right]\widehat{𝐫}_{ik}.`$ Here, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the Heaviside step function, $`𝐫_i`$ ($`𝐯_i`$) is the location (velocity) of the $`i`$th vortex, $`𝐫_k^{(p)}`$ is the location of the $`k`$th pinning site, $`\xi _p`$ is the pinning site radius, $`N_p`$ ($`N_v`$) is the number of pinning sites (vortices), $`\widehat{𝐫}_{ij}=(𝐫_i𝐫_j)/|𝐫_i𝐫_j|`$, $`\widehat{𝐫}_{ik}=(𝐫_i𝐫_k^{(p)})/|𝐫_i𝐫_k^{(p)}|`$, and we take $`\eta =1`$.

Morphological Characterization.— In order to identify and characterize the vortex river networks formed as the flux-gradient-driven front initially penetrates the sample, we divide our simulation area into a $`300\times 300`$ grid. Each time a vortex enters a grid element, the counter associated with that element is incremented. All grid elements that are visited at least once by a vortex are considered part of the network . The maximum number of vortices in the sample is approximately 1200. The pinning density $`n_p`$ and radius $`\xi _p`$ were kept constant at $`n_p=0.75/\lambda ^2`$ and $`\xi _p=0.3\lambda `$, while the pinning force $`f_p`$ varied from sample to sample. We also performed additional simulations in which $`f_p`$ was kept constant and $`n_p`$ varied from $`n_p=0.15/\lambda ^2`$ to $`n_p=2.15/\lambda ^2`$.

We observed three distinct vortex river network morphologies, depending on the local magnetic field $`B`$ and the pinning force $`f_p`$, as indicated in one of our main results: the “morphological phase diagram” in Fig. 2. In Fig. 1 the vortex trajectories are presented for the three morphologies. In samples with low pinning force values, $`f_p0.75f_0`$ (see Fig. 2), vortices flow throughout the sample, producing dense vortex river basins. These become space-filling for large times—or large fields since the external field is slowly ramped up. An example of the vortex channels in this regime, as they appear after 160000 MD steps, is shown in Fig. 1(c). If the simulation is allowed to proceed for a larger number of MD steps, the channels eventually fill the entire region shown in Fig. 1(c). For stronger pinning, $`f_p1.0f_0`$, and low vortex densities $`B\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^23B_\varphi /2`$, we observe branched “Hortonian” river networks that follow Horton’s laws of stream number and length \[see Fig. 1(a)\]. At higher magnetic fields $`B\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^23B_\varphi /2`$, the vortex rivers become highly braided or interconnected and are no longer Hortonian in morphology \[see Fig. 1(b)\]. Unlike the dense networks of Fig 1(c), where preferred vortex paths are uncommon, in the braided regime vortices consistently move along certain pathways, while in some areas of the sample vortex motion rarely occurs.

For low pinning forces in the dense network regime, vortex motion occurs both interstitially (with the vortices moving only in the areas between pinning sites) and by means of depinning. If vortex depinning is occurring in a landscape with traps of comparable strength, no favored paths for flux motion can form, leading to the observed dense pathways. The Hortonian and braided regimes arise once the pinning is strong enough that predominantly interstitial motion occurs. That is, pinned vortices almost never depin. Other vortices are prevented from moving close to a pinned vortex by the vortex-vortex repulsion, which has a longer (by near two orders of magnitude) range than the attraction of each pinning site. Since there are regions of the sample (i.e., at or near pinned vortices) where flux motion does not occur, the flow of the moving vortices must be concentrated in certain well-defined regions or rivers, leading to the formation of either Hortonian or braided rivers.

The broad crossover between Hortonian and braided rivers occurs when the flux density has increased enough that a large fraction of the pinning sites are occupied. In Fig. 2, the crossover region increases from $`B0.9\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^2`$ for $`f_p=1.0f_0`$, to $`B1.3\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^2`$ for $`f_p=6.0f_0`$. In each case, the crossover occurs at vortex densities higher ($`3B_\varphi /2B<2B_\varphi `$) than the matching field $`B_\varphi =0.75\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^2`$, when $`N_p=N_v`$ . This is in agreement with the results for the inset of Fig. 2, which shows that the transition from Hortonian rivers to braided rivers occurs at higher vortex densities as $`n_p`$ (and thereby the matching field) is increased. Additional support for this interpretation comes from examining the fraction $`R_{\mathrm{ups}}`$ of unoccupied pinning sites \[Fig. 3(a)\]. At the matching field, $`B_\varphi =0.75\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^2`$, only about $`65\%`$ of the pins are occupied . The pins are not fully occupied until a field of $`B1.4\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\lambda ^22B_\varphi `$ is applied—when the potential energy landscape experienced by the moving vortices becomes much more uniform. 

Horton Analysis.— In order to determine whether the vortex river networks we observe obey Horton’s laws, we performed Hortonian analysis on five different realizations of disorder for each of eight different pinning forces $`f_p`$ falling within the Hortonian regime. In each trial, a branching river was identified for analysis. The numbers $`N_w`$ and lengths $`L_w`$ of streams of order $`w=1`$ to 4 were recorded.  Representative plots of the type used to determine the length ratio, $`R_L=L_{w+1}/L_w`$, and the bifurcation ratio, $`R_B=N_w/N_{w+1}`$, are shown in Fig. 4. In the best fit exponential regressions used to extract $`R_L`$ and $`R_B`$, the average correlation coefficient was $`0.99`$, indicating a good fit to the Hortonian relationships. The average values for $`R_B`$ and $`R_L`$ throughout the Hortonian river region were $`R_B=3.99\pm 0.18`$ and $`R_L=2.04\pm 0.12`$, in excellent agreement with geophysical rivers. .

The characteristics of the Hortonian river networks are dependent on the pinning force $`f_p`$. In Fig. 3(b) we plot the length ratios $`R_L`$, and fractal dimensions $`D_F`$, for each pinning force in the Hortonian region. The braching ratio (not shown) is roughly constant as $`f_p`$ is varied. Changing the pinning force alters the ease with which individual vortices can be depinned, and thereby changes $`R_L`$ and $`D_f/d_c`$. As the pinning force decreases, it is more likely that some vortices will be depined and form new pathways of vortex motion. This will decrease the length of the higher order rivers by cutting short how far the vortex channels propagate before bifurcating. Therefore $`R_L`$ will decrease with decreasing $`f_p`$. Since a larger number of paths are created the $`D_f`$ will increase with decreasing $`f_p`$, in agreement with Fig. 3(b).

Concluding remarks.— We have analyzed the morphologies of flux-flow channels slowly driven to its marginally stable state, as a function of flux density and disorder strength. We have identified three distinct morphologies which include: a (large $`B`$) dense network regime, where flow can occur anywhere; a braided network regime, where flow is restricted to certain regions; and a (low $`B`$) Hortonian network regime, where Horton’s laws of length and branching ratio are obeyed in agreement with geophysical rivers. Indeed, it seems promising to analyze tree-shaped channel flow at the microscopic level adapting concepts that have already been successful in treating macroscopic river basins. These types of analysis are largely unexplored. The direction and success of such an approach constitutes an open and fascinating area. 

CJO (APM) acknowledges support from the GSRP of the microgravity division of NASA (NSF-REU). We thank the Maui Supercomputer Center, R. Riolo, and the UM-PSCS for providing computing resources. We thank F. Marchesoni, M. Bretz, E. Somfai, D. Tarboton, and S. Peckham for their comments.