We analyze the core dynamics of critically coupled, superheavy gauge vortices
in the (2+1) dimensional Einstein-Abelian-Higgs system. By numerically solving
the Eistein and field equations for various values of the symmetry breaking
scale, we identify the regime in which static solutions cease to exist and
topological inflation begins. We explicitly include the topological winding of
the vortices into the calculation and extract the dependence on the winding of
the critical scale separating the static and inflating regimes. Extrapolation
of our results suggests that topological inflation might occur within high
winding strings formed at the Grand Unified scale.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, RevTe