Numerical determination of asymmetric periodic solutions in the planar general three body problem and their stability

A numerical study of asymmetric periodic solutions of the planar general three body problem is presented. The equations of variation are integrated numerically and the algorithms for the numerical determination of families of such periodic orbits are given. These orbits refer to a rotating frame of reference. The linear isoenergetic stability is examined through the stability parameters while the results are given in tables and figures.     

Numerical extrapolation of periodic solutions

Numerical procedures are established for the continuation of families of periodic solutions of non-integrable dynamical systems. They are based on the use of the previous known members of a family for non-linear prediction of the next member to be determined. Both symmetric and asymmetric periodic solutions are considered. The procedures are applied and compared in the case of the restricted three-body problem. They are shown to lead to considerable saving of computer time.     

Numerical investigation of symmetric and asymmetric periodic oscillations

Global information for the periodic solutions — symmetric and asymmetric — of the ‘gravitational’ spring-pendulum problem is given for the first time. For two different sets of the parameters of this problem, the families of symmetric periodic solutions which emanate from the equilibrium point have been determined. Further families of asymmetric and symmetric solutions which bifurcate from them have also been examined and interesting results for their behaviour have been pointed out.     

Deflation techniques for the determination of periodic solutions of a certain period

The computation of periodic orbits of nonlinear mappings or dynamical systems can be achieved by applying a root-finding method. To determine a periodic solution, an initial guess should be located within a proper area of the mapping or a surface of section of the phase space of the dynamical system. In the case of Newton or Newton-like methods these areas are the basins of convergence corresponding to the considered solution. When several solutions of the same period exist in a particular region, then the deflation technique is suitable for the calculation of all these solutions. This technique is applied here to the Hénon's mapping and the driven conservative Duffing's oscillator.     

Numerical determination of three-dimensional periodic orbits generated from vertical self-resonant satellite orbits

The mechanism by which ‘vertical’ branches consisting of symmetric, three-dimensional periodic orbits bifurcate from families of plane orbits at ‘veertical self-resonant’ orbits is discussed, with emphasis on the relationship between symmetry properties and multiplicity, and methods for the numerical determination of such branches are described. As examples, eight new families of all symmetry classes which branch vertically from the familyf of retrograde satellite orbits in the Sun-Jupiter case of the restricted problem (μ=0.000 95), are given in their entirety; these branches are found, as expected, to occur in pairs, each pair arising from the same self-resonant orbit, and their symmetry properties following the predicted pattern. The stability and other properties of the branch orbits are discussed.     

Evolution with the mass parameter of families of asymmetric periodic solutions of the restricted three body problem

Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy - The two asymmetric bifurcations associated with the exterior commensurabilities of the formq+1: 1 are found to exist forq=1, 2, 3, 4 throughout the...     

Numerical exploration of commensurable periodic solutions of the restricted problem of three bodies and their stability

The long period problem provides the initial conditions for numerical computation of close periodic solutions separated in three categories. For each type of commensurability a number of periodic solutions are computed and their stability is studied by computing the characteristic exponents of the matrizant. The Runge-Kutta method for the solution of differential equations of motion was used in all cases. The results obtained are presented for a four cases of commensurability.     

On the application of optimization methods to the determination of members of families of periodic solutions

The techniques used for the numerical computation of families of periodic orbits of dynamical systems rely on predictor-corrector algorithms. These algorithms usually depend on the solution of systems of approximate equations constructed from the periodicity conditions of these orbits. In this contribution we transform the root finding procedure to an optimization one which is applied on an objective function based on the exact periodicity conditions. Thus, the determination of periodic solutions and families of such orbits can be accomplished through unconstrained optimization. In this paper we apply and compare some well-known minimization methods for the solution of this problem. The obtained results are promising. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Three-dimensional branchings of plane periodic solutions

In the case of the restricted three-body problem with small mass parameter a family of plane symmetric periodic orbits of the direct type around the large primary is found to have branches of three-dimensional periodic orbits. One such branch has been established consisting of stable orbits for small deviations from the plane.     

Numerical determination of families of three-dimensional double-symmetric periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem,II

New families of three-dimensional double-symmetric periodic orbits are determined numerically in the Sun-Jupiter case of the restricted three-body problem. These families bifurcate from the vertical-critical orbits ( _v = – 1, b _v – 0) of the basic plane familiesi, g ₁, g₂, c andI. Further, the predictor-corrector procedure employed to reveal these families has been described and interesting numerical results have been pointed out. Also, computer plots of the orbits of these families have been shown in conical projections.     

On the stability parameters of periodic solutions

The stability parametersa, b, c, d of plane symmetric periodic solutions of non-integrable dynamical systems of two degrees of freedom are obtained in terms of their initial states of motion and elements of their variational matrics. Explicit formulae are given in the cases of the Störmer problem and the restricted problem of three bodies.     

A relation in families of periodic solutions

We show the existence of a general relation between the parameters of periodic solutions in dynamical systems with ignorable coordinates. In particular, for time-independent systems with an axis of symmetry, the relation takes the form T/A=–/E, whereT is the period,A is the angular momentum, is the angle through which the system has rotated after one period, andE is the energy.     

Numerical determination of families of three-dimensional double-symmetric periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem. I.

New families of three-dimensional double-symmetric periodic orbits are determined numerically in the Sun-Jupiter case of the restricted three-body problem. These families bifurcate from the vertical-critical orbits ( _v = –1,c _v ),c _v=0) of the basic plane familiesi,g ₁,g ₂,h,a,m andl. Further the numerical procedure employed in the determination of these families has been described and interesting results have been pointed out. Also, computer plots of the orbits of these families have been shown in conical projections.     

New kinds of asymmetric periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem

The procedure of numerical ascent from families of planar to three-dimensional periodic orbits and the subsequent descent to the plane is proved efficient in determining new families of planar asymmetric periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem. Two such families are computed and described for values of the mass parameter for which it has been found that they exist. Two new families of three-dimensional asymmetric periodic orbits are also presented in this paper.     

A class of periodic solutions of the N-body problem

We prove existence and multiplicity of T-periodic solutions (for any given T) for the N-body problem in ^m (any m 2) where one of the bodies has mass equal to 1 and the others have masses ₂,..., _N , small. We find solutions such that the body of mass 1 moves close to x = 0 while the body of mass _i moves close to one of the circular solutions of the two body problem of period T/k _i, where ki is any odd number. No relation has to be satisfied by k ₂,...,k _N.     

Families of asymmetric periodic solutions of the restricted problem of three bodies for the Sun-Jupiter mass ratio and their relationship with the symmetric families

Message derived a method to detect bifurcations of a family of asymmetric periodic solutions from a family of symmetric periodic solutions in the restricted problem of three bodies for the limiting case when the second body has zero mass. This is used to examine several small integer commensurabilities. A total of 21 exterior and 21 interior small integer commensurabilities are examined and bifurcations (two in number) are found to exist only for exterior commensurabilities (q+1):1,q=1, 2,, 7. On investigating other commensurabilities of this form for values ofq up to 50 two bifurcations are still found to exist for each. The eccentricities of the two bifurcation orbits are given for eachq up to 20. For a Sun-Jupiter mass ratio the complete family of asymmetric periodic solutions associated withq=1, 2,..., 5, and the initial segments of the asymmetric family withq=6, 7,..., 12, have been numerically determined. The family associated withq=5 contains some unstable orbits but all orbits in the other four complete families are stable. The five complete families each begin and end on the same symmetric family. The network of asymmetric and symmetric families close to the commensurabilities (q+1):1,q=1, 2,..., 5 is discussed.     

New periodic solutions of the three dimensional restricted problem

A global review of the symmetric solutions of the restricted problem made in the Introduction opens a window on new symmetric periodic orbits of the two body problem in rotating axes which could be ‘trivially’ continuable to symmetric periodic orbits of the three dimensional restricted problem for small values of μ (see Figure 3). The proof of this possibility of continuation is given in Sections 1, 2, 3 using regularizing variables.     

Some families of periodic solutions in the planarN-body problem

Recent results and existence proofs concerning periodic motions of circular-elliptic type forN=3 andN=4 are reviewed.     

Numerical search for periodic solutions in the vicinity of the figure-eight orbit: slaloming around singularities on the shape sphere

We present the results of a numerical search for periodic orbits with zero angular momentum in the Newtonian planar three-body problem with equal masses focused on a (narrow) search window bracketing the figure-eight initial conditions. We found eleven solutions that can be described as some power of the “figure-eight” solution in the sense of the topological classification method. One of these solutions, with the seventh power of the “figure-eight”, is a choreography. We show numerical evidence of its stability.