  We investigate magnetic nano-pillars, in which two thin ferromagnetic
nanoparticles are separated by a nanometer thin nonmagnetic spacer and can be
set into stable spin vortex-pair configurations. The 16 ground states of the
vortex-pair system are characterized by parallel or antiparallel chirality and
parallel or antiparallel core-core alignment. We detect and differentiate these
individual vortex-pair states experimentally and analyze their dynamics
analytically and numerically. Of particular interest is the limit of strong
core-core coupling, which we find can dominate the spin dynamics in the system.
We observe that the 0.2 GHz gyrational resonance modes of the individual
vortices are replaced with 2-6 GHz range collective rotational and vibrational
core-core resonances in the configurations where the cores form a bound pair.
These results demonstrate new opportunities in producing and manipulating spin
states on the nanoscale and may prove useful for new types of ultra-dense
storage devices where the information is stored as multiple vortex-core
configurations.
