Linear stability for some symmetric periodic simultaneous binary collision orbits in the four-body problem

We apply the analytic-numerical method of Roberts to determine the linear stability of time-reversible periodic simultaneous binary collision orbits in the symmetric collinear four-body problem with masses 1, m, m, 1, and also in a symmetric planar four-body problem with equal masses. In both problems, the assumed symmetries reduce the determination of linear stability to the numerical computation of a single real number. For the collinear problem, this verifies the earlier numerical results of Sweatman for linear stability with respect to collinear and symmetric perturbations.     

Families of periodic orbits in the restricted four-body problem

In this paper, families of simple symmetric and non-symmetric periodic orbits in the restricted four-body problem are presented. Three bodies of masses m ₁, m ₂ and m ₃ (primaries) lie always at the apices of an equilateral triangle, while each moves in circle about the center of mass of the system fixed at the origin of the coordinate system. A massless fourth body is moving under the Newtonian gravitational attraction of the primaries. The fourth body does not affect the motion of the three bodies. We investigate the evolution of these families and we study their linear stability in three cases, i.e. when the three primary bodies are equal, when two primaries are equal and finally when we have three unequal masses. Series, with respect to the mass m ₃, of critical periodic orbits as well as horizontal and vertical-critical periodic orbits of each family and in any case of the mass parameters are also calculated.     

Families of periodic orbits in the planar three-body problem

A periodic orbit of the restricted circular three-body problem, selected arbitrarily, is used to generate a family of periodic motions in the general three-body problem in a rotating frame of reference, by varying the massm ₃ of the third body. This family is continued numerically up to a maximum value of the mass of the originally small body, which corresponds to a mass ratiom ₁:m ₂:m ₃?5:5:3. From that point on the family continues for decreasing massesm ₃ until this mass becomes again equal to zero. It turns out that this final orbit of the family is a periodic orbit of the elliptic restricted three body problem. These results indicate clearly that families of periodic motions of the three-body problem exist for fixed values of the three masses, since this continuation can be applied to all members of a family of periodic orbits of the restricted three-body problem. It is also indicated that the periodic orbits of the circular restricted problem can be linked with the periodic orbits of the elliptic three-body problem through periodic orbits of the general three-body problem.     

Parametric evolution of periodic orbits in the restricted four-body problem with radiation pressure

The backbone of the analysis in most dynamical systems is the study of periodic motions, since they greatly assist us to understand the structure of all possible motions. In this paper, we deal with the photogravitational version of the rectilinear restricted four-body problem and we investigate the dynamical behaviour of a small particle that is subjected to both the gravitational attraction and the radiation pressure of three bodies much bigger than the particle, the primaries. These bodies are always in syzygy and two of them have equal masses and are located at equal distances from the third primary. We study the effect of radiation on the distribution of the periodic orbits, their stability, as well as the evolution of the families and their main features.     

Families of periodic collision orbits in the general three-body problem

In the general three-body problem, in a rotating frame of reference, a symmetric periodic solution with a binary collision is determined by the abscissa of one body and the energy of the system. For different values of the masses of the three bodies, the symmetric periodic collision orbits form a two-parametric family. In the case of equal masses of the two bodies and small mass of the third body, we found several symmetric periodic collision orbits similar to the corresponding orbits in the restricted three-body problem. Starting with one symmetric periodic collision orbit we obtained two families of such orbits. Also starting with one collision orbit in the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn system we obtained, for a constant value of the mass ratio of two bodies, a family of symmetric periodic collision orbits.     

The family of planar periodic orbits generated by the equal-mass four-body Schubart interplay orbit

We locate members of a one-parameter family of equal-mass four-body periodic orbits in the plane. The family begins and ends with the rectilinear four-body equal-mass Schubart interplay orbit and passes through a double choreography orbit. The first-order stability of these orbits is computed. Some members of this symmetric family are stable to symmetric perturbations; however, they are unstable when all perturbations are allowed.     

Periodic orbits of the planar collision restricted 3-body problem

Using the continuation method we prove that the circular and the elliptic symmetric periodic orbits of the planar rotating Kepler problem can be continued into periodic orbits of the planar collision restricted 3-body problem. Additionally, we also continue to this restricted problem the so called “comet orbits”. An erratum to this article can be found at     

The existence of transversal homoclinic orbits in a planar circular restricted four-body problem

In this paper, we study the existence of transversal homoclinic orbits in a planar circular restricted four-body problem, based on the perturbation theory of integrable Hamiltonian systems. We start from a planar circular restricted four-body model and regard it as a perturbation of the two-body model. Then, in order to conveniently study unbounded orbits, we transform the infinite points to finite points by a non-canonical transformation, arriving at a non-Hamiltonian system with degenerate fixed points. According to the extended Melnikov method, we finally prove that there exist transversal homoclinic orbits in this four-body model.     

Critical symmetric periodic orbits in the photogravitational restricted three-body problem

In this paper, we determine series of horizontally critical symmetric periodic orbits of the six basic families, f,g,h,i,l,m, of the photogravitational restricted three-body problem, and computetheir vertical stability. We restrict our study in the case where only the first primary is radiating, namely q ₁≠1 andq ₂=1. We also compare our results with those of Hénon and Guyot (1970) so as to study the effect of radiation to this kind of orbits. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Symmetric horseshoe periodic orbits in the general planar three-body problem

We present some families of horseshoe periodic orbits in the general planar three-body problem for the case of two equal masses. The considered system is a symmetric version of the one formed by Saturn, Janus and Epimetheus. We use a mass ratio equal to 35×10⁻⁵, corresponding to 10⁵ times the Saturn-Janus mass parameter of the restricted case; for this mass ratio the satellites have a significantly bigger influence on the planet than in the classical Saturn, Janus and Epimetheus system. To obtain periodic orbits, we search those horseshoe orbits passing through two reversible configurations. A particular kind of periodic orbits where the minor bodies follow the same path is discussed.     

The stability of periodic orbits in the three-body problem

A method is developed to study the stability of periodic motions of the three-body problem in a rotating frame of reference, based on the notion of surface of section. The method is linear and involves the computation of a 4×4 variational matrix by integrating numerically the differential equations for time intervals of the order of a period. Several properties of this matrix are proved and also it is shown that for a symmetric periodic motion it can be computed by integrating for half the period only.This linear stability analysis is used to study the stability of a family of periodic motions of three bodies with equal masses, in a rotating frame of reference. This family represents motion such that two bodies revolve around each other and the third body revolves around this binary system in the same direction to a distance which varies along the members of the family. It was found that a large part of the family, corresponding to the case where the distance of the third body from the binary system is larger than the dimensions of the binary system, represents stable motion. The nonlinear effects to the linear stability analysis are studied by computing the intersections of several perturbed orbits with the surface of sectiony ₃=0. In some cases more than 1000 intersections are computed. These numerical results indicate that linear stability implies stability to all orders, and this is true for quite large perturbations.     

Periodic orbits and bifurcations in the Sitnikov four-body problem

We study the existence, linear stability and bifurcations of what we call the Sitnikov family of straight line periodic orbits in the case of the restricted four-body problem, where the three equal mass primary bodies are rotating on a circle and the fourth (small body) is moving in the direction vertical to the center mass of the other three. In contrast to the restricted three-body Sitnikov problem, where the Sitnikov family has infinitely many stability intervals (hence infinitely many Sitnikov critical orbits), as the “family parameter” ż₀ varies within a finite interval (while z ₀ tends to infinity), in the four-body problem this family has only one stability interval and only twelve 3-dimensional (3D) families of symmetric periodic orbits exist which bifurcate from twelve corresponding critical Sitnikov periodic orbits. We also calculate the evolution of the characteristic curves of these 3D branch-families and determine their stability. More importantly, we study the phase space dynamics in the vicinity of these orbits in two ways: First, we use the SALI index to investigate the extent of bounded motion of the small particle off the z-axis along its interval of stable Sitnikov orbits, and secondly, through suitably chosen Poincaré maps, we chart the motion near one of the 3D families of plane-symmetric periodic orbits. Our study reveals in both cases a fascinating structure of ordered motion surrounded by “sticky” and chaotic orbits as well as orbits which rapidly escape to infinity.     

Bifurcations of planar to three-dimensional periodic orbits in the general three-body problem

We study the generation of three-dimensional periodic orbits of the general three-body problem from special generating plane orbits, the vertical-critical orbits. The bifurcation process is examined analytically and geometrically. A method of obtaining numerically continuous sets of vertical-critical orbits is outlined, and applied for the determination of 16 monoparametric sets including all possible types of such orbits corresponding to all possible types of symmetry of the bifurcating three-dimensional orbits. The stability of all bifurcation orbits is assessed. Examples of three-dimensional periodic orbits generated from the bifurcation orbits are given.     

Transport orbits in an equilateral restricted four-body problem

In this paper we consider a restricted equilateral four-body problem where a particle of negligible mass is moving under the Newtonian gravitational attraction of three masses (called primaries) which move on circular orbits around their center of masses such that their configuration is always an equilateral triangle (Lagrangian configuration). We consider the case of two bodies of equal masses, which in adimensional units is the parameter of the problem. We study numerically the existence of families of unstable periodic orbits, whose invariant stable and unstable manifolds are responsible for the existence of homoclinic and heteroclinic connections, as well as of transit orbits traveling from and to different regions. We explore, for three different values of the mass parameter, what kind of transits and energy levels exist for which there are orbits with prescribed itineraries visiting the neighborhood of different primaries.     

Instabilities and bifurcations of the families of collision periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem

By using Birkhoff's regularizing transformation, we study the evolution of some of the infinite j-k type families of collision periodic orbits with respect to the mass ratio μ as well as their stability and dynamical structure, in the planar restricted three-body problem. The μ-C characteristic curves of these families extend to the left of the μ-C diagram, to smaller values of μ and most of them go downwards, although some of them end by spiralling around the constant point S* (μ=0.47549, C=3) of the Bozis diagram (1970). Thus we know now the continuation of the families which go through collision periodic orbits of the Sun-Jupiter and Earth-Moon systems. We found new μ-C and x-C characteristic curves. Along each μ-C characteristic curve changes of stability to instability and vice versa and successive very small stable and very large unstable segments appear. Thus we found different types of bifurcations of families of collision periodic orbits. We found cases of infinite period doubling Feigenbaum bifurcations as well as bifurcations of new families of symmetric and non-symmetric collision periodic orbits of the same period. In general, all the families of collision periodic orbits are strongly unstable. Also, we found new x-C characteristic curves of j-type classes of symmetric periodic orbits generated from collision periodic orbits, for some given values of μ. As C varies along the μ-C or the x-C spiral characteristics, which approach their focal-terminating-point, infinite loops, one inside the other, surrounding the triangular points L₄ and L₅ are formed in their orbits. So, each terminating point corresponds to a collision asymptotic symmetric periodic orbit for the case of the μ-C curve or a non-collision asymptotic symmetric periodic orbit for the case of the x-C curve, that spiral into the points L₄ and L₅, with infinite period. All these are changes in the topology of the phase space and so in the dynamical properties of the restricted three-body problem.     

Families of periodic planetary-type orbits in the three-body problem and their stability

Several families of the planar general three-body problem for fixed values of the three masses are found, in a rotating frame of reference, where the mass of two of the bodies is small compared to the mass of the third body. These families were obtained by the continuation of a degenerate family of periodic orbits of three bodies where two of the bodies have zero masses and describe circular orbits around a third body with finite mass, in the same direction.The above families represent planetary systems with the body with the large mass representing the Sun and the two small bodies representing two planets or comets. One section of a family is shown to represent the Jupiter family of comets and also a model for the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn system is found.The stability analysis revealed that stability exists for small masses and small eccentricities of the two planets. Planetary systems with relatively large masses and eccentricities are proved to be unstable. In particular, the Jupiter family of comets, for small masses of the two small bodies, and the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn system are proved to be stable. Also, it was shown that resonances are not necessarily associated with instabilities.     

Central configurations for the planar Newtonian four-body problem

Planar central configurations of four different masses are analyzed theoretically and computed numerically. We follow Dziobek’s approach to four-body central configurations with a straightforward implicit (in the masses and distances) method of our own in which the fundamental quantities are each the quotient of a directed area divided by the corresponding mass. We apply a new simple numerical algorithm to construct general four-body central configurations. We use this tool to obtain new properties of the symmetric and non-symmetric central configurations. The explicit continuous connection between three-body and four-body central configurations where one of the four masses approaches zero is clarified. Some cases of coorbital 1+3 problems are also considered.