Region of motion in the Sitnikov four-body problem when the fourth mass is finite

This article deals with the region of motion in the Sitnikov four-body problem where three bodies (called primaries) of equal masses fixed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. Fourth mass which is finite confined to moves only along a line perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of the motions of the primaries. Contrary to the Sitnikov problem with one massless body the primaries are moving in non-Keplerian orbits about their centre of mass. It is investigated that for very small range of energy h the motion is possible only in small region of phase space. Condition of bounded motions has been derived. We have explored the structure of phase space with the help of properly chosen surfaces of section. Poincarè surfaces of section for the energy range ?0.480≤h≤?0.345 have been computed. We have chosen the plane (q ₁,p ₁) as surface of section, with q ₁ is the distance of a primary from the centre of mass. We plot the respective points when the fourth body crosses the plane q ₂=0. For low energy the central fixed point is stable but for higher value of energy splits in to an unstable and two stable fixed points. The central unstable fixed point once again splits for higher energy into a stable and three unstable fixed points. It is found that at h=?0.345 the whole phase space is filled with chaotic orbits.     

Particle motions around,between or outside the two dipoles of a magnetic binary system

In this paper we study the simple symmetric motions of a charged particle around, between or outside the two primaries of a magnetic-binary system. We also attempt to reveal the influence of the oblateness of the primaries on the evolution of the families of these motions and on their orbital characteristics.     

Periodic motions in the spatial Chermnykh restricted three-body problem

Three-dimensional motions in the Chermnykh restricted three-body problem are studied. Specifically, families of three-dimensional periodic orbits are determined through bifurcations of the family of straight-line periodic oscillations of the problem which exists for equal masses of the primaries. These rectilinear oscillations are perpendicular to the plane of the primaries and give rise to an infinite number of families consisting entirely of periodic orbits which belong to the three-dimensional space except their respective one-dimensional bifurcations as well as their planar terminations. Many of the computed branch families are continued in all mass range that they exist.     

Stability and bifurcations of Sitnikov motions

A family of straight line periodic motions, known as the Sitnikov motions and existing in the case of equal primaries of the three body problem, is studied with respect to stability and bifurcations. Continuation of the bifurcations into the case of unequal primaries is also discussed and some of the bifurcating families of three-dimensional periodic motions are computed.     

THE PHASE SPACE STRUCTURE OF THE EXTENDED SITNIKOV-PROBLEM

In this article we treat the 'Extended Sitnikov Problem' where three bodies of equal masses stay always in the Sitnikov configuration. One of the bodies is confined to a motion perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of motion of the two other bodies (called the primaries), which are always equally far away from the barycenter of the system (and from the third body). In contrary to the Sitnikov Problem with one mass less body the primaries are not moving on Keplerian orbits. After a qualitative analysis of possible motions in the 'Extended Sitnikov Problem' we explore the structure of phase space with the aid of properly chosen surfaces of section. It turns out that for very small energies H the motion is possible only in small region of phase space and only thin layers of chaos appear in this region of mostly regular motion. We have chosen the plane ( ) as surface of section, where r is the distance between the primaries; we plot the respective points when the three bodies are 'aligned'. The fixed point which corresponds to the 1 : 2 resonant orbit between the primaries' period and the period of motion of the third mass is in the middle of the region of motion. For low energies this fixed point is stable, then for an increased value of the energy splits into an unstable and two stable fixed points. The unstable fixed point splits again for larger energies into a stable and two unstable ones. For energies close toH = 0 the stable center splits one more time into an unstable and two stable ones. With increasing energy more and more of the phase space is filled with chaotic orbits with very long intermediate time intervals in between two crossings of the surface of section. We also checked the rotation numbers for some specific orbits. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Generalizations of the Jacobian integral

The restricted problem of three bodies is generalized to the restricted problem of 2+n bodies. Instead of one body of small mass and two primaries, the system is modified so that there are several gravitationally interacting bodies with small masses. Their motions are influenced by the primaries but they do not influence the motions of the primaries. Several variations of the classical problem are discussed. The separate Jacobian integrals of the minor bodies are lost but a conservative (time-independent) Hamiltonian of the system is obtained. For the case of two minor bodies, the five Lagrangian points of the classical problem are generalized and fourteen equilibrium solutions are established. The four linearly stable equilibrium solutions which are the generalizations of the triangular Lagrangian points are once again stable but only for considerably smaller values of the mass parameter of the primaries than in the classical problem.     

On the circular Sitnikov problem: the alternation of stability and instability in the family of vertical motions

This paper is devoted to the special case of the restricted circular three-body problem, when the two primaries are of equal mass, while the third body of negligible mass performs oscillations along a straight line perpendicular to the plane of the primaries (so called periodic vertical motions). The main goal of the paper is to study the stability of these periodic motions in the linear approximation. A special attention is given to the alternation of stability and instability within the family of periodic vertical motions, whenever their amplitude is varied in a continuous monotone manner.     

Numerical results to the Sitnikov-problem

We present numerical results of the so-called Sitnikov-problem, a special case of the three-dimensional elliptic restricted three-body problem. Here the two primaries have equal masses and the third body moves perpendicular to the plane of the primaries' orbit through their barycenter. The circular problem is integrable through elliptic integrals; the elliptic case offers a surprisingly great variety of motions which are until now not very well known. Very interesting work was done by J. Moser in connection with the original Sitnikov-paper itself, but the results are only valid for special types of orbits. As the perturbation approach needs to have small parameters in the system we took in our experiments as initial conditions for the work moderate eccentricities for the primaries' orbit (0.33e _primaries 0.66) and also a range of initial conditions for the distance of the 3 ^rd body (= the planet) from very close to the primaries orbital plane of motion up to distance 2 times the semi-major axes of their orbit. To visualize the complexity of motions we present some special orbits and show also the development of Poincaré surfaces of section with the eccentricity as a parameter. Finally a table shows the structure of phase space for these moderately chosen eccentricities.     

Periodic elliptic motions in a planar restricted (N+1)-body problem

LetN2 mass points (primaries) move on a collinear solution of relative equilibrium of theN-body problem; i.e. suitably fixed on a uniformly rotating straight line. Consider the motion of a massless particle in the gravitational field of these primaries with arbitrarily given masses. An existence proof for periodic solutions (i.e. closed trajectories in a rotating coordinate system) will be given, in which the particle performs nearly keplerian elliptic motions about (and close to) any one of the primaries.     

Short Time Lyapunov Indicators in the Restricted Three-Body Problem

We applied the method of the short time Lyapunov indicators to the planar circular and to the planar elliptic restricted three-body problem in order to study the structure of the phase space in some selected regions. In the circular case we computed the short-time averages of the stretching numbers to distinguish between regular and chaotic domains of the phase space. The results obtained in this way are in good agreement with the corresponding Poincaré's surface of sections. Using the short time Lyapunov indicators we determined the detailed structure of the phase space in the semi-major axis-eccentricity plane of the test particle both in the circular and in the elliptic restricted problem (in the latter case for some values of the eccentricities of the primaries) and we studied the main features of the phase space.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Stability VS inclination of motions inE 3

Five families of three-dimensional doubly symmetric motions are computed after establishing their existence by means of a grid-search technique. It is confirmed that within the same family orbits of lower inclination with respect to the plane of motion of the primaries are stable while the critical inclination at which instability occurs varies between families. The maximum inclination at which stable motions of the type presented here were found is about 52°.     

Periodic solutions of the third sort for restricted problem of three bodies and their stability

In this paper periodic solutions of the third sort for restricted problem of three bodies in the three-dimensional space are derived numerically by starting from generating solutions obtained by one of the authors (1969) and by increasing the mass-ratio of the two primaries stepwise from zero to about 1000 for 21, 32 and 61 cases of commensurable mean motions. Periodic solutions both for circular and elliptic orbits of the primaries are obtained.The stability of the periodic solutions for the 21 circular case is discussed and it is found that none of them is linearly stable.     

A computer aided analysis of the Sitnikov Problem

We deal with the problem of a zero mass body oscillating perpendicular to a plane in which two heavy bodies of equal mass orbit each other on Keplerian ellipses. The zero mass body intersects the primaries plane at the systems barycenter. This problem is commonly known as theSitnikov Problem. In this work we are looking for a first integral related to the oscillatory motion of the zero mass body. This is done by first expressing the equation of motion by a second order polynomial differential equation using a Chebyshev approximation techniques. Next we search for an autonomous mapping of the canonical variables over one period of the primaries. For that we discretize the time dependent coefficient functions in a certain number of Dirac Delta Functions and we concatenate the elementary mappings related to the single Delta Function Pulses. Finally for the so obtained polynomial mapping we look for an integral also in polynomial form. The invariant curves in the two dimensional phase space of the canonical variables are investigated as function of the primaries eccentricity and their initial phase. In addition we present a detailed analysis of the linearized Sitnikov Problem which is valid for infinitesimally small oscillation amplitudes of the zero mass body. All computations are performed automatically by the FORTRAN program SALOME which has been designed for stability considerations in high energy particle accelerators.     

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.     

On the Dynamics and Topology of the Elliptic Rectilinear Restricted 3-Body Problem

We study a symmetric collinear restricted 3-body problem, where the equal mass primaries perform elliptic collisions, while a third massless body moves in the line between the primaries, during the time between two consecutive elliptic collisions. After desingularizing binary and triple collisions, we prove the existence of a transversal heteroclinic orbit beginning and ending in triple collision. This orbit is the unique homothetic orbit that the problem possess. Finally, we describe the topology of the compact extended phase space. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Periodic orbits and bifurcations in the Sitnikov four-body problem when all primaries are oblate

We study the motions of an infinitesimal mass in the Sitnikov four-body problem in which three equal oblate spheroids (called primaries) symmetrical in all respect, are placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. These primaries are moving in circular orbits around their common center of mass. The fourth infinitesimal mass is moving along a line perpendicular to the plane of motion of the primaries and passing through the center of mass of the primaries. A relation between the oblateness-parameter ‘A’ and the increased sides ‘ε’ of the equilateral triangle during the motion is established. We confine our attention to one particular value of oblateness-parameter A=0.003. Only one stability region and 12 critical periodic orbits are found from which new three-dimensional families of symmetric periodic orbits bifurcate. 3-D families of symmetric periodic orbits, bifurcating from the 12 corresponding critical periodic orbits are determined. For A=0.005, observation shows that the stability region is wider than for A=0.003.     

Orbit's Structure in the Isosceles Rectilinear Restricted Three-Body Problem

The isosceles rectilinear restricted three-body problem can be considered as the Sitnikov's problem with eccentricity one or, as the isosceles problem when the central mass is zero and the primaries move having consecutive elliptic collisions. We compactify the phase space and analyze the flow on their boundary. This allows us to separate the phase space into different regions depending on the kind of orbits. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On final evolutions in the restricted planar parabolic three-body problem

In this paper, we prove the existence of special type of motions in the restricted planar parabolic three-body problem, of the type exchange, emission–capture, and emission–escape with close passages to collinear and equilateral triangle configuration, among others. The proof is based on a gradient-like property of the Jacobian function when equations of motion are written in a rotating–pulsating reference frame, and the extended phase space is compactified in the time direction. Thus a phase space diffeomorphic to -coordinates (θ, ζ, ζ′) is obtained with the boundary manifolds θ = ± π/2 corresponding to escapes of the binaries when time tends to ± ∞. It is shown there exists exactly five critical points on each boundary, corresponding to classic homographic solutions. The connections of the invariant manifolds associated to the collinear configurations, and stable/unstable sets associated to binary collision on the boundary manifolds, are obtained for arbitrary masses of the primaries. For equal masses extra connections are obtained, which include equilateral configurations. Based on the gradient-like property, a geometric criterion for capture is proposed and is compared with a criterion introduced by Merman (1953b) in the fifties, and an example studied numerically by Kocina (1954).     

Some results on the global dynamics of the regularized restricted three-body problem with dissipation

We perform an analysis of the dynamics of the circular, restricted, planar three-body problem under the effect of different kinds of dissipation (linear, Stokes and Poynting–Robertson drags). Since the problem is singular, we implement a regularization technique in the style of Levi–Civita. The effect of the dissipation is often to decrease the semi-major axis; as a consequence the minor body collides with one of the primaries. In general, it is quite difficult to find non-collision orbits using random initial conditions. However, by means of the computation of the Fast Lyapunov Indicators (FLI), we obtain a global view of the dynamics. Precisely, we detect the regions of the phase space potentially belonging to basins of attraction. This investigation provides information on the different regions of the phase space, showing both collision and non-collision trajectories. Moreover, we find periodic orbit attractors for the case of linear and Stokes drags, while in the case of the Poynting–Robertson effect no other attractors are found beside the primaries, unless a fourth body is added to counterbalance the dissipative effect.     

Heavy-element abundances in peculiar a stars

On the theory that peculiar A stars were once secondaries in binary systems in which the primaries exploded as type II supernovae, the nucleosynthesis during the final stages of evolution of massive stars is investigated. For heavy elements (Z>30) the observed abundances in peculiar. A stars reflect the composition of material ejected by the exploding primaries. Peculiar A stars are divided into two groups, the main group and the Mn group, and abundances in each group are summarised. During the explosions of the primaries, rapid (n, ) or (, n) reactions operate on the abundance peaks previously formed by the s-process during the giant phase. In the main group primaries (n, ) reactions predominate, and rare-earths are formed from the Ba peak. In the Mn group primaries (, n) reactions operate on the Sr, Ba and Pb peaks to form Kr, Xe and Hg.