Vortices and antivortices as harmonic oscillators.

It is shown that the current- and field-induced gyration of magnetic vortices and antivortices follows the analytical model of a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator. Quantities of the harmonic oscillator, i.e., resonance frequency, damping constant, gyration amplitude, and phase, can be linked to material parameters and sample dimensions. This description is useful for the investigation of vortex-switching and vortex-antivortex annihilation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]