Vortex formation around islands in random waves

Abstract

Wave vortices are fundamental topological features of interference fields, occurring at nodal points where the wave amplitude vanishes. A distinct class of vortices can instead form around it islands or `holes' in two-dimensional wavefields, where the wave intensity remains finite and may even peak at the boundary. In particular, such vortices occur in M2 ocean tides around New Zealand, Madagascar, Iceland, and Svalbard, yet the conditions governing their appearance have remained elusive. Here we develop a statistical theory of vortices around islands in random two-dimensional wavefields, with and without the Coriolis effect, and test it experimentally. We determine the probabilities of vortices with different topological charges as functions of island size and Coriolis parameter. We find that island-bound vortices emerge with unexpectedly high probability, approaching 50% in non-rotating systems and nearly 100% in rotating systems. Moreover, for a broad range of parameters, the presence of a subwavelength island dramatically enhances vortex formation compared with homogeneous random wavefields. Our results explain the formation of tidal vortices around ocean islands of particular sizes (~0.1 of the characteristic wavelength) and establish a general mechanism for generating localized high-intensity vortices around defects in diverse wave systems, from water waves to nanophotonic structures.