Local minimizers of the Ginzburg-Landau functional with prescribed degrees

We consider, in a smooth bounded multiply connected domain D⊂R², the Ginzburg-Landau energy subject to prescribed degree conditions on each component of ∂D. In general, minimal energy maps do not exist L. Berlyand, P. Mironescu, Ginzburg-Landau minimizers in perforated domains with prescribed degrees, preprint, 2004]. When D has a single hole, Berlyand and Rybalko L. Berlyand, V. Rybalko, Solution with vortices of a semi-stiff boundary value problem for the Ginzburg-Landau equation, J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS), in press, 2008, http://www.math.psu.edu/berlyand/publications/publications.html] proved that for small ε local minimizers do exist. We extend the result in L. Berlyand, V. Rybalko, Solution with vortices of a semi-stiff boundary value problem for the Ginzburg-Landau equation, J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS), in press, 2008, http://www.math.psu.edu/berlyand/publications/publications.html]: Eε(u) has, in domains D with 2,3,… holes and for small ε, local minimizers. Our approach is very similar to the one in L. Berlyand, V. Rybalko, Solution with vortices of a semi-stiff boundary value problem for the Ginzburg-Landau equation, J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS), in press, 2008, http://www.math.psu.edu/berlyand/publications/publications.html]; the main difference stems in the construction of test functions with energy control.