New central configurations for the planar 5-body problem

In this paper we show the existence of three new families of planar central configurations for the 5-body problem with the following properties: three bodies are on the vertices of an equilateral triangle and the other two bodies are on a perpendicular bisector.     

New stacked central configurations for the planar 5-body problem

A stacked central configuration in the n-body problem is one that has a proper subset of the n-bodies forming a central configuration. In this paper we study the case where three bodies with masses m ₁, m ₂, m ₃ (bodies 1, 2, 3) form an equilateral central configuration, and the other two with masses m ₄, m ₅ are symmetric with respect to the mediatrix of the segment joining 1 and 2, and they are above the triangle generated by {1, 2, 3}. We show the existence and non-existence of this kind of stacked central configurations for the planar 5-body problem.     

An analytical proof on certain determinants connected with the collinear central configurations in the n-body problem

In this paper we give a short analytical proof of the inequalities proved by Albouy–Moeckel through computer algebra, in the cases $n=5$ and $n=6$ . These inequalities guarantee that, in the $n$ -body problem, the family of mass vectors making a given collinear configuration a central configuration is 2-dimensional. The induction techniques here may be used to prove the inequalities for general $n$ with more subtle estimation but currently the inequalities still remains unproved for $n\ge 7$ .     

Seven-body central configurations: a family of central configurations in the spatial seven-body problem

The main result of this paper is the existence of a new family of central configurations in the Newtonian spatial seven-body problem. This family is unusual in that it is a simplex stacked central configuration, i.e the bodies are arranged as concentric three and two dimensional simplexes.      

The restricted planetary 4-body problem

The history and current status of the Minor Planet Center are described, and thoughts are presented on future plans for the Center.Presented at the Symposium Star Catalogues, Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics, held in honor of Paul Herget at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, November 30, 1978.     

Finiteness of spatial central configurations in the five-body problem

We strengthen a generic finiteness result due to Moeckel by showing that the number of spatial central configurations of the Newtonian five-body problem with positive masses is finite, apart from some explicitly given special cases of mass values.     

On the number of central configurations in the N-body problem

Central configurations are critical points of the potential function of the n-body problem restricted to the topological sphere where the moment of inertia is equal to constant. For a given set of positive masses m ₁,..., m _n we denote by N(m ₁, ..., m _n, k) the number of central configurations' of the n-body problem in ^k modulus dilatations and rotations. If m _{n 1},..., m _n, k) is finite, then we give a bound of N(m ₁,..., m _n, k) which only depends of n and k.     

A compact model for the planar rhomboidal 4-body problem

We obtain a compact model for the global study of the planar rhomboidal 4-body problem in a level of constant negative energy. This model is a variation of the non compact model obtained through a McGehee blow up transformation. but compactness permits to obtain results which are not clear in the other case.     

Symmetry, bifurcation and stacking of the central configurations of the planar 1+4 body problem

In this work we are interested in the central configurations of the planar $1+4$ body problem where the satellites have different infinitesimal masses and two of them are diametrically opposite in a circle. We can think of this problem as a stacked central configuration too. We show that the configurations are necessarily symmetric and the other satellites have the same mass. Moreover we prove that the number of central configurations in this case is in general one, two or three and, in the special case where the satellites diametrically opposite have the same mass, we prove that the number of central configurations is one or two and give the exact value of the ratio of the masses that provides this bifurcation.     

A family of stacked central configurations in the planar five-body problem

We study planar central configurations of the five-body problem where three bodies, \(m_1, m_2\) and \(m_3\), are collinear and ordered from left to right, while the other two, \(m_4\) and \(m_5\), are placed symmetrically with respect to the line containing the three collinear bodies. We prove that when the collinear bodies form an Euler central configuration of the three-body problem with \(m_1=m_3\), there exists a new family, missed by Gidea and Llibre (Celest Mech Dyn Astron 106:89–107, 2010), of stacked five-body central configuration where the segments \(m_4m_5\) and \(m_1m_3\) do not intersect.     

Continua of central configurations with a negative mass in the n-body problem

The number of equivalence classes of central configurations of $n \le 4$ bodies of positive mass is known to be finite, but it remains to be shown if this is true for $n \ge 5$ . By allowing one mass to be negative, Gareth Roberts constructed a continuum of inequivalent planar central configurations of $n = 5$ bodies. We reinterpret Roberts’ example and generalize the construction of his continuum to produce a family of continua of central configurations, each with a single negative mass. These new continua exist in even dimensional spaces $\mathbb R ^k$ for $k \ge 4$ .     

Global stability and the restricted 3-body problem

Global stability regions are found for classi orbits of the circular restricted 3-body problem for primary masses equal and Jacobi constantK>15.5. As this constant decreases, the stability, region shrinks extremely rapidly.     

On the central configurations of the planar 1 + 3 body problem

We consider the Newtonian four-body problem in the plane with a dominat mass M. We study the planar central configurations of this problem when the remaining masses are infinitesimal. We obtain two different classes of central configurations depending on the mutual distances between the infinitesimal masses. Both classes exhibit symmetric and non-symmetric configurations. And when two infinitesimal masses are equal, with the help of extended precision arithmetics, we provide evidence that the number of central configurations varies from five to seven.     

Stability of motion in the Sitnikov 3-body problem

We study the stability of motion in the 3-body Sitnikov problem, with the two equal mass primaries (m ₁ = m ₂ = 0.5) rotating in the x, y plane and vary the mass of the third particle, 0 ≤ m ₃ < 10⁻³, placed initially on the z-axis. We begin by finding for the restricted problem (with m ₃ = 0) an apparently infinite sequence of stability intervals on the z-axis, whose width grows and tends to a fixed non-zero value, as we move away from z = 0. We then estimate the extent of “islands” of bounded motion in x, y, z space about these intervals and show that it also increases as |z| grows. Turning to the so-called extended Sitnikov problem, where the third particle moves only along the z-axis, we find that, as m ₃ increases, the domain of allowed motion grows significantly and chaotic regions in phase space appear through a series of saddle-node bifurcations. Finally, we concentrate on the general 3-body problem and demonstrate that, for very small masses, m ₃ ≈ 10⁻⁶, the “islands” of bounded motion about the z-axis stability intervals are larger than the ones for m ₃ = 0. Furthermore, as m ₃ increases, it is the regions of bounded motion closest to z = 0 that disappear first, while the ones further away “disperse” at larger m ₃ values, thus providing further evidence of an increasing stability of the motion away from the plane of the two primaries, as observed in the m ₃ = 0 case.     

Stability of the planar full 2-body problem

The stability of the Full Two-Body Problem is studied in the case where both bodies are non-spherical, but are restricted to planar motion. The mutual potential is expanded up to second order in the mass moments, yielding a highly symmetric yet non-trivial dynamical system. For this system we identify all relative equilibria and determine their stability properties, with an emphasis on finding the energetically stable relative equilibria and conditions for Hill stability of the system. The energetically stable relative equilibria always correspond to the classical “gravity gradient” configuration with the long ends of the two bodies pointed at each other, however there always exists a second equilibrium in this configuration at a closer separation that is unstable. For our model system we precisely map out the relations between these different configurations at a given value of angular momentum. This analysis identifies the fundamental physical constraints and limitations that exist on such systems, and has immediate applications to the stability of asteroid systems that are fissioned due to a rapid spin rate. Specifically, we find that all contact binary asteroids which are spun to fission will initially lie in an unstable dynamical state and can always re-impact. If the total system energy is positive, the fissioned system can disrupt directly from this relative equilibrium, while if it is negative the system is bound together.     

A new kind of 3-body problem

A new kind of restricted 3-body problem is considered. One body,m ₁, is a rigid spherical shell filled with an homogeneous incompressible fluid of density ₁. The second one,m ₂, is a mass point outside the shell andm ₃ a small solid sphere of density ₃ supposed movinginside the shell and subjected to the attraction ofm ₂ and the buoyancy force due to the fluid ₁. There exists a solution withm ₃ at the center of the shell whilem ₂ describes a Keplerian orbit around it. The linear stability of this configuration is studied assuming the mass ofm ₃ to beinfinitesimal. Explicitly two cases are considered. In the first case, the orbit ofm ₂ aroundm ₁ is circular. In the second case, this orbit is elliptic but the shell is empty (i.e. no fluid inside it) or the densities ₁ and ₃ are equal. In each case, the domain of stability is investigated for the whole range of the parameters characterizing the problem.     

Tame and chaotic behavior in the planar isosceles 3-body problem

We show that every planar isosceles solution of the three-body problem encounters a collision of the symmetric particles, either forwards or backwards in time. Regularizing analytically this collision, the solution has at least a syzygy configuration and/or leads to a total collapse. Some further simple results support the intuitive image on the tame local behavior of the motion as long as it does not lead to a triple collision. As a main result we prove that total collapse singularities, can be regularized in aC ¹-fashion with respect to time, for all values of the masses. Using symbolic dynamics, the chaotic character of theC ¹-regularized solutions is pointed out.