 Radial flow near a driven vortex core

For $[{\nabla }^2+\xi (1-|\psi {|}^2)]\psi =0$ and a regular unit-charge core $\psi =f(r)e^{i[\theta +\chi (r)]}$, write current velocity $u_r=2{\chi }^{\prime }$ when the time-dependent kinetic operator is $-{\nabla }^2$. Separating the imaginary part givesWith $f=ar+O(r^3)$ and no singular core flux, integration gives $u_r=-\mathrm{Im}\xi r/2+O(r^3)$. If $\xi =g{n}_{\infty }-i\alpha$, the slope is $\alpha /2$. The phase-gradient convention $k={\chi }^{\prime }$ has half this slope, $\alpha /4$. These are local regularity results, not a global vortex-existence assertion.