Existence and stability of PT-symmetric vortices in nonlinear two-dimensional square lattices

Vortices symmetric with respect to simultaneous parity and time reversing transformations are considered on the square lattice in the framework of the discrete nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation. The existence and stability of vortex configurations is analyzed in the limit of weak coupling between the lattice sites, when predictions on the elementary cell of a square lattice (i.e., a single square) can be extended to a large (yet finite) array of lattice cells. Our analytical predictions are found to be in good agreement with numerical computations.