The Quantum Origins of Non-Topological Vortices

We review some unusual facts about the theory of non-relativistic anyons in 2+1 dimensions, and use it as a laboratory to explore how interesting features of non-relativistic field theory correspond to those of many-body quantum mechanics. In particular, we offer an explanation of how Jackiw-Pi vortices arise as the classical limit of certain many-body states in the quantum mechanical theory. Along the way, we make various interesting observations about universal features of the spectrum of anyons subject to different amounts of tuning.