Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 1, July 2011, pp.

4754

Vortex Motion on Riemann Surfaces

Sun-Chul Kim
Department of Mathematics, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Korea

(Received 31 March 2011, in final form 9 May 2011)

Vortex motion of an incompressible inviscid flow on a infinitely thin curved shell specified as
a Riemann surface is studied. The intrinsic dynamical equations are derived and compared on
two conformally equivalent Riemann surfaces. In particular, the relations for the streamfunction,
velocity, and vorticity are found by using explicit computations. Then, the result is applied to the
problem of motion of point vortex dipoles on Riemann surfaces whose trajectories in time turn out
to be a geodesic. Also, the case of more complicated surfaces with a boundary, is discussed with an
example.

PACS numbers: 47.15.Ki, 47.32.Cc, 02.40.Ky

Keywords: Point vortex, Riemann surface, Uniformization, Conformal map, Greens function, Vortex dipole,
Geodesic
DOI: 10.3938/jkps.59.47

I. INTRODUCTION differentiable manifold with a Riemannian metric in con-

The dynamics of a vortex is a crucial part of classi-
cal and modern fluid mechanics. The most basic vor-
tex motion is probably that of point vortices, whose in-
teracting mechanisms are of fundamental importance in
the physics of fluids. Although there has been extensive
study of the dynamics of point vortices for centuries,
many basic open mathematical and physical questions
still remain [1,2].
Vortex motion on a plane or a sphere has been inves-
tigated by many researchers [2]. However, for the case
of general curved surfaces very few results are known [3,
4]. For example, in Ref. 5, equations of point vortex
motion on general curved surfaces are derived in confor-
mal (or isothermal) coordinates and are then applied to
the case of a surface of revolution. These formulas de-
scribe a general vortex motion in terms of the specifically
given conformal metric, which is basically an expression
via projection onto the complex coordinates. On the
other hand, rather than projecting and writing in terms
of complex variables, we may treat the same surface as
embedded in R3 , regarding it as a part of the space. This
alternative view enables us to study and formulate intrin-
sically the motion of vortices on a surface embedded in
R3 space. We adopt this approach in the present paper
and suggest an equivalent, but different, formulation for
the dynamics of vortices.
To develop our theory, we first need a proper mathe-
matical setting. For surfaces, we adopt the concept of a
Riemann surface, which is essentially a two-dimensional
E-mail: kimsc@cau.ac.kr; Fax: +82-2-823-5214
-47-
formal form. On such surfaces, there is enough analytical
structure to be exploited to formulate our results. For
example, the Laplace-Beltrami operator can be defined,
and the subsequent Greens function satisfies a special
identity [6] that will be crucial to obtain our results.
Furthermore, by the well-known uniformization theorem
in complex function theory, every simply connected Rie-
mann surface is one-to-one conformally mapped onto one
of the three basic examples: a complex plane, a Riemann
sphere and an open unit disc in the complex plane. This
fact enables us to formulate and compare the dynamics
of point vortices on general surfaces with one of these
standard representatives. More specifically, by utilizing
a certain conformal property, we find relations of stream-
functions, Greens functions, velocities, etc. given on the
general surface and on one of the three prototype sur-
faces. We exemplify the case of a single point vortex and
provide a counterexample to the vectorial formulation of
vortex motion in Ref. 7.
As an application of the formulation obtained above,
we investigate the movement of a pair of point vortices
of the same strength but opposite sign, called a vortex
dipole. In particular, we consider the limiting case in
which the two vortices approach infinitely close while
the ratio of the strength to the distance is kept constant
so that the dipole converges to a point. In Ref. 8, by a
systematic and detailed study, a remarkable characteris-
tic is obtained: the vortex pair (dipole) draws a geodesic
curve as its trajectory on a plane, on a sphere and on a
hyperbolic plane. We also conjecture that this is true for
general curved surfaces. We answer the question affir-
matively for Riemann surfaces without a boundary and
-48-
Fig. 1. Conformal Map Between 1 , 2
illustrate an example for a surface with a boundary.
Finally, we comment on the currently active appli-
cations of vortex dipole dynamics to diverse areas, in-
cluding atmospheric jets [9], the -effect [10], the vortex
modon [11], and recently Bose-Einstein condensates [12].
The vortex dipole also provides an important example of
the ergodicity of vortex motion on certain smooth em-
bedded ergodic surfaces [13] although most point vortex
systems are not ergodic [14].
II. VORTEX DYNAMICS ON RIEMANN
SURFACES
We start with the two basic equations [8] describing
the motion of an incompressible and inviscid fluid flow
on a (curved) two-dimensional surface imbedded in the
Euclidean space R3 :
n = v, (1)
v = n, (2)
where n is the unit outward normal vector, a stream-
function, v the flow velocity and the (only) nonzero
normal component of the vorticity v. From here
on, all points and vectors are in the Euclidean space R3
assuming the background of all the motions (and their
mathematical notations are) in R3 although they are con-
fined on at all time. Rather than projecting the dy-
namics onto the coordinates plane which is adopted in
Ref. [5], we try to derive intrinsic equations of motion
on the surface itself. To incorporate the geometry of
the surface into the fluid motion, we introduce confor-
mal (or isothermal) coordinates (u, v) whose coordinate
patch x : D R2 R3 is explicitly given by
x(u, v) = (x1 (u, v), x2 (u, v), x3 (u, v))
for (u, v) D. Let this patch induce the conformal metric
ds2 = 2 (du2 + dv 2 ) (3)
on the surface and satisfy
xu xu = xv xv = 2 (x(u, v)), xu xv = 0, (4)
where the inner product and the corresponding norm are
three-dimensional Euclidean, e.g.,
xu xu = x21u + x22u + x23u ,
q Riemann sphere C or the open unit disk D in the com-
||xu || = xu xu = x21u + x22u + x23u .
Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 1, July 2011
In terms of this coordinate system, we specify the
operator and the normal n on by
u u
= xu + xv = 2 (u xu + v xv ),
||xu ||2 ||xv ||2
xu xv
n = , (5)
||xu xv ||
thus, the velocity is given by
v = 2 (u xv + v xu ). (6)
Similarly, Eq. (2) is reduced to
2 = 2 (uu + vv ) + 4 (u u + v v ) = , (7)
where 2 is called the Laplace-Beltrami operator.
Before we resume the argument, we need some defini-
tions of related mathematical concepts. We have already
defined a conformal metric in Eq. (3), and we consider
a special case in which a differentiable manifold has a
conformal structure.
Definition 1 A differentiable two-dimensional manifold
with a Riemann metric in conformal form is called a
Riemann surface.
To simplify the discussion, we assume to be a Rie-
mann surface from here on. For the properties and the
details of Riemann surfaces, see Ref. 15. Next, we de-
fine a conformal map from one Riemann surface 1 to
another Riemann surface 2 .
Definition 2 A map f between two surfaces 1 , 2 is
conformal if there is a real positive function (x) on 1
such that the derivative map f satisfies
||f (vx )|| = (x)||vx ||
for all tangent vectors vx to 1 . Here, (x) is called the
scale factor of f , and in particular, if (x) 1 for all x,
we call f an isometry.
Generally speaking, a conformal map preserves the an-
gle between any two tangent vectors at each point on the
manifold. (See Fig. 1.) This generates a corresponding
equivalence concept according to conformal structures
(related to the angle not to the length) of Riemann sur-
faces:
Definition 3 Any two Riemann surfaces are confor-
mally equivalent if there is a 1-1 conformal map between
them.
Under these notions, we may ask about classifying all
Riemann surfaces via conformal mapping. In the case of
simply connected Riemann surfaces, the answer is well-
known as the uniformization theorem (see Ref. 15 for
proof.):
Theorem 1 (Uniformization Theorem) Every sim-
ply connected Riemann surface is conformally equivalent
to one of the following three: the complex plane C, the
plex plane.
Vortex Motion on Riemann Surfaces Sun-Chul Kim -49-

With these mathematical notions and facts, we will the induced patches x = x(u, v) and y = y(u, v) =
study the dynamics of a vortex on two simply connected f (x(u, v)), respectively. In particular, if we assume sim-
Riemann surfaces 1 , 2 that are conformally equivalent. ple connectedness on the surface, there is an important
Let f : 1 2 be a 1-1 conformal map given by identity of the Greens functions G1 , G2 of correspond-
ing Laplace-Beltrami operators as shown in Ref. 6,
f (x) = (f1 (x), f2 (x), f3 (x)).
Then the induced patch on 2 , y(u, v) = f (x(u, v)), from G1 (x, x0 ) = G2 (f (x), f (x0 )) (9)
D to 2 for (u, v) is orthogonal because it preserves the
angle of any two tangent vectors at each point. In other for each x, x0 in 1 .
words, y(u, v) again generates a conformal metric on 2 This fact is essential to compare the vortex dynamics
and satisfies on 1 and 2 . For instance, we calculate how a point
vortex (i.e., a delta function mathematically) is trans-
yu yu = ||f (xu )||2 = 2 (y(u, v)) = yv yv , formed via the conformal mapping f in the following.
yu yv = 0, (8) Let us write 1 ,x0 (x) as a delta function centered at x0
on 1 . Then, by definition and a change of variables,
where = . Now, the derivative map f of f is a
linear transformation between tangent planes explicitly
ZZ
given by 1 = 1 ,x0 (x)dA1
1
ZZ
f (v) = vf T = (1 ,x0 f 1 )(f (x))|f 1 |dA2 (10)
2
for
 each tangent vector v to 1 at x1 , where f = ZZ
fi = (1 ,x0 g)(u)|g|dA2
is the Jacobian matrix of f and T denotes the 2
xj ZZ
transpose. If restricted on the tangent plane of 1 at x,
= 2 ,f (x0 ) (u)dA2 , (11)
the derivative map (or f ) is well known to be a combi- 2
nation of rotation, reflection and dilation. (See Ref. 16 where dA1 , dA2 are corresponding area elements, g =
for details.) f 1 is the inverse of f (g is again conformal). From this,
we may take the delta function on 2 at u0 = f (x0 ) as
Lemma 1 The derivative map f of a 1-1 conformal
map f between two simply connected Riemann surfaces is 2 ,f (x0 ) (u) = 1 ,x0 (g(u))|g|u=f (x0 )
a linear transformation which, geometrically speaking, is
either a rotation about some axis or a rotatory reflection = 1 ,x0 (f 1 (u))|f |1
x0 . (12)
both combined with a certain dilation.
We similarly proceed to compute more terms, such as
Next, for two conformally equivalent surfaces 1 and , u , v , etc., on both 1 and 2 . For the streamfunc-
2 , we may define the Laplace-Beltrami operators by tions, we calculate the general formula

ZZ
1 (x) = 1 (x0 )G1 (x, x0 )dA1 ,x0 (13)
1
ZZ
= (1 f 1 )(f (x0 ))G2 (f (x), f (x0 ))|f |1 dA2 ,f (x0 ) (14)
2
ZZ
= (1 g)(y0 )G2 (y, y0 ))|g|dA2 ,y0 , (15)
2

where we adopt new variables y = f (x), y0 = f (x0 ) on 2 . We summarize the derivations as a theorem.
2 . If we introduce the corresponding vorticity on 2 by
using Theorem 2 For two conformally equivalent Riemann
surfaces 1 , 2 with the conformal map f: 1 2 and
2 (y) = (1 g)(y)|g|(y), g = f 1 , by defining the vorticity
the last expression becomes 2 (y) = (1 g)(y)|g|(y)
ZZ
2 (y0 )G2 (y, y0 )dA2 ,y0 = 2 (y), on 2 , we have the invariance of the streamfunction:
2

defining the corresponding (new) streamfunction 2 on 1 (x) = 2 (f (x)).

-50-
For the velocity, we go further and compute the deriva-
tives to obtain
yu = xu (f T )1 , yv = xv (f T )1 , (16)
1 (x) 2 (y) 1 (x) 2 (y)
= , = , (17)
u u v v
etc. With these formulas, we compare the velocity as
 
1 1
v1 (x) = 2 xv + xu (18)
u v
 
2 2
= 2 yv + yu (f T )
u v
= 2 v2 (y)(f T )
from the definition in Eq. (6).
Theorem 3 Under the same hypothesis of Theorem 1,
the velocities v1 (x), v2 (x) are compared by
v1 (x) = 2 v2 (y)(f T ),
where is the scale factor of f .
Next, we add some comments on relevant issues. First,
for the case of a single point vortex, by taking =
1 ,x0 , the expression in Eq. (15) is simply reduced to
ZZ
( f 1 )f (x0 )G2 (f (x), f (x0 ))|f |1 dAf (x0 )
2 p
= 2 (f (x)),
and we conclude
1 (x) = 2 (f (x))
because we have defined the corresponding delta function
on 2 as in Eq. (12). This relation implies the invariance
of the streamfunction of a single point vortex under a
1-1 conformal mapping between two simply connected
Riemann surfaces.
Secondly, if f is an isometry ( 1, a special case of a
conformal map), we proceed further. Because an isom-
etry preserves the inner product on the corresponding
tangent planes, i.e., at any point P on 1 ,
u v|P = f (u) f (v)|f (P ) ,
geometric structures (length, angle, etc) are preserved.
For example, if 1 = R2 , this implies that the metric
on 2 is again Euclidean and that the related opera-
tors induced by the metric, e.g., , Laplace-Beltrami,
etc. are exactly in the same form. (The vector prod-
uct is also identical, except for the signature, depending
on orientation preservation (+1) or reversal (-1) of the
given isometry, which we now assume to be +1, i.e., ori-
entation preservation.) We have then the same Greens
function, streamfunction, vorticity, etc. Consequently,
the dynamics of a vortex on 2 is exactly the same and
is not distinguishable from that on a plane. (The cases
Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 1, July 2011
(19) Fig. 2. A Counterexample
for a Riemann sphere or a unit disc are similar.) In other
words, the fluid motions are identical for isometric Rie-
mann surfaces.
This is a useful fact from which we construct the fol-
lowing instructive example. In Refs. 7 and 2, a vectorial
formula for the flow velocity due to a point vortex of
strength 1 at x1 is introduced as
1 n1 (x x1 )
x = , (23)
2 l2
where the chord distance l between the point x = (x, y, z)
and the given point vortex x1 = (x1 , y1 , z1 ) is the Eu-
clidean 2-norm
(20) l = ||x x1 || = (x x1 )2 + (y y1 )2 + (z z1 )2
and n1 denotes the unit normal to the surface at x1 .
This formula correctly unifies for the cases of a plane
(21) (n1 = (0, 0, 1)) and a sphere (n1 = x1 /R, R the spher-
ical radius) as is easily checked by direct computation
from the Biot-Savart expression for the vorticity. It is
commented (without proof) on p. 147 in Ref. 7 that this
formula can be extended to general two-dimensional sur-
faces imbedded in R3 by adopting n1 as the normal of
the given surface at x1 .
However, we here suggest a simple example showing
that Eq. (23) does not work for general surfaces. Let
us consider the fluid motion due to a point vortex of
strength 1 at x1 = (0, 0) in the plane. By a proper
bending (which is an isometry of the plane), we construct
(22) a deformed surface R2bend as in Fig. 2. Now, if we regard
R2bend as imbedded in R3 , we set three-dimensional coor-
dinates by taking x1 = (0, 0, 0) and the plane containing
x1 as the xz-plane.
Then, at the point x = (x, y) 6= (0, 0) in the plane and
(0, y, 0) in the space with y 6= 0, the vectorial formula in
Eq. (23) gives
x = 0 (24)
3
because n1 //xx1 in R , but the correct planar velocity
in terms of the original planar coordinates (x, y) is
1 (y, x)
x = p , (25)
2 x2 + y 2
Vortex Motion on Riemann Surfaces Sun-Chul Kim
Fig. 3. Point Vortex Dipoles on , S 2
which is surely nonzero, disagreeing with the vectorial
formula. Although we are not sure if the formula is true
only for the planar and the spherical cases, we suppose
that the formula is valid for very special surfaces of high
symmetry.
III. VORTEX DIPOLE MOTION
So far, we have sought the dynamical connection of
vortex motion on two different surfaces 1 , 2 that are
conformally equivalent to each other. In the present sec-
tion, we will present an example showing the usefulness
of our derivation by comparing the dynamics of a point
vortex on any simply connected Riemann surface with
one of the three standard models suggested by the uni-
formization process.
We consider the motion of a vortex dipole, particularly
the limiting case where two vortices approach infinitely
close while the ratio of the strength to the distance is kept
constant. The vortex pair (dipole) is known to draw a
geodesic curve as its trajectory on a plane, on a sphere
and on a hyperbolic plane [8]. By utilizing our formu-
lation, we extend this property to any simply connected
Riemann surfaces that are conformally equivalent to a
sphere (thus, with no boundary). We also comment on
the case of surfaces with a boundary with an example.
Let us assume that the (curved) Riemann surface
is simply connected, sufficiently smooth and without
boundary so that it is conformally equivalent to the Rie-
mann sphere S 2 . We also impose a certain stability con-
dition on the point vortex dipole because, for some cases,
we might need to force the convergence of the two point
vortices to a point to make a point vortex dipole on .
Here, such (possibly unstable) cases are excluded to dis-
cuss the existence of the local trajectory of the dipole on
. In other words, the dipole is supposed to be properly
formed initially, and its coherence is kept for some period
of time.
We will construct a point vortex dipole on the surface
by first making a point vortex dipole on S 2 and then
pulling back the operations and images onto . (See
Fig. 3.) Choose a point xd on and a unit tangent
vector vd 6= 0 in the tangent plane at xd . We generate a
point vortex dipole at xd with a direction vd as follows;
(Here, direction roughly means how two point vortices
approach each other; a precise definition is given below.)
-51-
First, we consider the mapped point f (xd ) = yd and the
push forward direction f (vd ) = wd on S 2 . We then
draw a (unique) geodesic curve ( ) for | | 0 for some
small > 0 on S 2 at yd with the condition
(0) = yd , 0 (0) = wd .
We identify ( ) to be a part of a certain great circle
because all geodesics are great circles on a sphere. Then,
we choose two point vortices
y1 = (0 ), y2 = ( )
on S 2 and let them approach yd along , forming a point
vortex dipole at yd on S 2 with the direction wd .
This procedure, in each step, produces a corresponding
pull back action via f on . (See Fig. 3.) More precisely,
we name the corresponding pull back image of ( ) by
= ( ) = f 1 (( ))
with (0) = xd on . In addition, we have two point
vortices x1 = f 1 (y1 ), x2 = f 1 (y2 ) on that will ap-
proach xd along as varies, thus forming again a point
vortex dipole at xd on . In short, a point vortex dipole
on S 2 induces a vortex dipole on by pull back through
f.
Here, the convergence of x1 , x2 to xd is performed
along a fixed direction vd , which is a tangent of at
xd . From this we define the direction of a point vortex
dipole at xd by the unit tangent vector vd , which ex-
plains the orientation of the point vortex dipole. (See
Fig. 4.) To clarify the geodesic of the dipole trajectory,
we first show that two point vortices x1 , x2 transport the
direction vector vd in parallel as they move according to
mutual interaction. We use the term vortex dipole for
point vortex dipole for convenience because we deal with
the point dipole case only.
Suppose two point vortices at x1 , x2 have nonzero
strengths , respectively. To make a vortex dipole,
we keep =  fixed while x1 , x2 approaches
d (x1 , x2 )
both to xd . (d (x1 , x2 ) represents the intrinsic distance
between x1 , x2 on .) From the velocity relation in The-
orem 3,
v (x1 ) = 2 (x1 ) vS 2 (y1 ) (f T )(x1 ),
v (x2 ) = 2 (x2 ) vS 2 (y2 ) (f T )(x2 ).
To determine if x1 , x2 transport vd in parallel, we inspect
the derivative of x with respect to d(x1 , x2 ) at xd . More
precisely we rewrite the expression
x 1 x 2 1  2
= (x1 ) vS 2 (y1 ) (f T )(x1 )
d (x1 , x2 ) d (x1 , x2 )
2 (x2 ) vS 2 (y2 ) (f T )(x2 )

= I + II + III, (26)
-52- Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 1, July 2011

where
1
I = 2 (x1 ) vS 2 (y1 )
d (x1 , x2 )
(f T )(x1 ) (f T )(x2 )
 
(27)
1  2
(x1 ) 2 (x2 )

II =
d (x1 , x2 )
vS 2 (y2 ) (f T )(x2 ) (28)
1
III = 2 (x2 )
d (x1 , x2 )
[vS 2 (y1 ) vS 2 (y2 )] (f T )(x2 ). (29)
As we form the vortex dipole by letting d (x1 , x2 ) 0,
we necessarily have 0 which then implies vS 2 (y1 )
0, vS 2 (y2 ) 0 simultaneously as the magnitude of ve-
locity is proportional to the vortex strength. because f
is sufficiently smooth everywhere, the expression
||(f T )(x1 ) (f T )(x2 )|| Fig. 4. Parallel Transportation
(30)
d (x1 , x2 )
is bounded in the limit d (x1 , x2 ) 0. Thus we con- argument at t = 0 above can be analogously repeated
clude that the first part I approaches to zero. Similarly, at xd (t) with the direction vd (t), and the newly gener-
since , are differentiable and away from zero, ated x1 , x2 at xd (t) (denoted by x1t , x2t ) along t again
|2 (x1 ) 2 (x2 )| transport vd (t) parallel. (See Fig. 4.) In summary, we
(31) have the following theorem:
d (x1 , x2 )
is bounded and II vanishes in the limit. Finally, for the Theorem 4 The direction vector vd (t) of a point vortex
third term III, we rewrite as dipole moves parallel along the trajectory at any time.
Then, the point vortex dipole xd (t) necessarily moves per-
||vS 2 (y1 ) vS 2 (y2 )|| ||vS 2 (y1 ) vS 2 (y2 )|| pendicular to vd (t).
=
d (x1 , x2 ) dS 2 (y1 , y2 )
Accordingly, from the first part of the theorem above,
d 2 (y1 , y2 )
S (32) the normal vectors vd (t) and are parallel at all time. In
d (x1 , x2 ) other words, the tangent vectors to are always parallel
and notice that from the second part of the theorem, which is a geometric
definition of a geodesic curve. (See Ref. 16, p. 291.)
dS 2 (y1 , y2 ) The situation is dynamically equivalent to the role of
(xd ) 6= 0 (33)
d (x1 , x2 ) a small buggy with two identical wheels joined by an
as d (x1 , x2 ) 0 by the definition of the scale factor . infinitesimal axle. (See Ref. 17, pp. 34 - 35.)
Moreover, because the corresponding dipole on a sphere The next step is to consider the vortex motion on sur-
draws a geodesic [8], we have faces with a boundary. As the boundary is generally ex-
pected to create new patterns of point vortex motion [2],
||vS 2 (y1 ) vS 2 (y2 )|| the problem is not so straightforward and as yet has not
0 (34) been solved. In particular, for multiply connected do-
dS 2 (y1 , y2 )
mains in a two-dimensional plane, a general dynamical
in the same limit. Thus, we have shown theory of point vortices is developed in Ref. 18. Pre-
x 1 x 2 sumably, the main ingredient in such investigations is
lim =0 (35) the construction of the corresponding Greens functions.
d (x1 ,x2 )0 d (x1 , x2 )
In Ref. 6, the method of images is efficiently adopted
and established the parallel translation at the initial to find explicit forms of the Greens functions of certain
movement of the vortex dipole. simply connected domains of various shapes on a sphere.
Next, we consider the trajectory of the dipole : It is also suggested that the results may be extended by
xd (t), 0 t t0 , on with xd (0) = xd for some t0 > 0 utilizing well-known techniques, such as the method of
whose (local) existence is assumed as before. At each inversion or Schwarz-Christoffel mapping.
time t, we investigate the direction vector vd (t), which For the dipole motion on surfaces with a boundary,
is, by definition, transported by the dipole motion and although the boundary effect is global throughout the
defined along the trajectory with vd (0) = vd . Then, the whole domain, its influence possibly decreases to zero as
Vortex Motion on Riemann Surfaces Sun-Chul Kim -53-

two opposite vortices approach to form a point vortex thus, the point vortex moves constantly along the bound-
dipole. We do not know if this is always the case; how- ary (the x-axis). Now, we make a dipole by taking
ever, for the cases of the upper half plane and the unit another point vortex at z2 = (x2 , y2 ) with opposite
disc in R2 , we check that the boundary effect disappears 1
strength and simply take xd = zd = (z1 + z2 ) with
in the limit and that the point vortex dipole is still mov- 2
ing on a geodesic. Instead of developing a general theory z2 z1
vd = . Because the streamfunction is
here, we briefly sketch computations ensuring this phe- |z2 z1 |
nomenon in the upper half plane.
Let a point vortex be located at x1 = (x1 , y1 ) =
x1 + iy1 = z1 (y1 > 0) with strength in the upper
= (log |z z1 | log |z z1 |
half plane in R2 . (We adopt complex notation.) By the 2
method of images, we construct the streamfunction ( log |z z2 | + log |z z2 |), (37)
for conjugation)

= (log |z z1 | log |z z1 |); (36) the velocity at z1 is then given by
2

 
(y1 y2 ) (y1 + y2 ) (x1 x2 ) (x1 x2 )
x 1 = + , + . (38)
4y1 2|z1 z2 |2 2|z1 z2 |2 2|z1 z2 |2 2|z1 z2 |2

Similarly, the velocity at z2 is

 
(y1 y2 ) (y1 + y2 ) (x1 x2 ) (x1 x2 )
x 2 = + + , + . (39)
4y2 2|z1 z2 |2 2|z1 z2 |2 2|z2 z1 |2 2|z2 z1 |2

As z1 , z2 zd , 2 = |z1 z2 | 0, and  = as planes, spheres and hyperbolic planes [8]. We extend

this property to any simply connected Riemann surface
= is fixed, x 1 , x 2 have a common
|(x1 , y1 ) (x2 , y2 )| 2 without a boundary, which is conformally equivalent to
limit the Riemann sphere. Also, the case of more complicated
 surfaces, e.g., with boundaries, has been discussed.
(sin , cos ), (40)
2
y2 y 1
where tan = and hence is perpendicular to ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
x2 x1
z2 z1 . Then, the derivative of the velocity at zd is
x 1 x 2 This work was supported by a National Research
lim = (0, 0), (41) Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Gov-
0 2 ernment (2009-0073390).
which affirms the geodesic trajectory.

IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this paper, the fluid vortex motion on two-
dimensional Riemannian manifolds with conformal met-
rics (called Riemann surfaces) is investigated. The in-
trinsic dynamical equations, in terms of conformal co-
ordinates, are formulated and compared for three pro-
totype cases of Riemann surfaces: the complex plane,
the sphere and the open unit disc. As an application,
the movement of a pair of point vortices of the same
strength but opposite sign is studied. The limiting case
of a point vortex dipole, where two point vortices are in-
finitely close, moves along a geodesic determined by the
initial orientation on constant curvature surfaces, such
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