Nature of the driving force on an Abrikosov vortex

From an energy and force analysis based on known calculations on one and two Abrikosov vortices (AV’s) using the London equation, it is found that the driving force on an AV is not a magnetic Lorentz force as widely believed. In the low-$\xi /\lambda$ limit, the force is dominated by a kinetic rather than magnetic interaction, and is proportional to the local densities of AV current and the driving current around the hard core. Some simulated and experimental results published in the literature on vortex depinning in Josephson-junction arrays can be interpreted in terms of this concept.