Periodic solutions about the ‘out of plane’ equilibrium points in the photogravitational restricted three-body problem

The regions of stability for the out of plane equilibrium points of the photogravitational restricted three-body problem are given. Second order expansions of periodic solutions around these points are constructed and the corresponding families are computed. It is found that two such families exist. One of them originates and terminates on the same equilibrium point while the other terminates by flattening on the orbital plane.     

Equilibrium points of the restricted three-body problem with equal prolate and radiating primaries,and their stability

Paper presents a complete discussion of the existence, location and stability of the equilibrium points of the coplanar restricted three-body problem with equal prolate and radiating primaries. Depending on the values of the radiation and negative oblateness parameters, two or four additional collinear equilibrium points exist, in addition to the three Eulerian points of the classical case, making up a total of up to seven collinear points. Four of these additional points, as well as the classical central equilibrium point located at the origin, are stable for certain ranges of the parameters. Also, depending on the values of the parameters, up to six additional non-collinear equilibrium points exist, in addition to the triangular Lagrangian points of the classical case. Two of these additional points are located symmetrically above and below the origin and are stable, while the other four are located symmetrically in the four quadrants and are unstable.     

Robe’s circular restricted three-body problem under oblate primaries with perturbations in Coriolis and centrifugal forces

This paper examines the existence and linear stability of equilibrium points in the perturbed Robe’s circular restricted three-body problem under the assumption that the hydrostatic equilibrium figure of the first primary is an oblate spheroid, and the shape of the second primary is also an oblate spheroid. The problem is perturbed in the sense that small perturbations given to the Coriolis and centrifugal forces are being considered. Results of the analysis found two axial equilibrium points on the line joining the centre of both primaries. It is further observed that under certain conditions, points on the circle within the first primary are also equilibrium points. The linear stability of this configuration is examined; it is observed that the first axial point is unstable while the second one is conditionally stable and the circular points are unstable.     

On the evolution of the ‘f’ family in the restricted three-body problem

Poincaré surface of section technique is used to study the evolution of a family ‘f’ of simply symmetric retrograde periodic orbits around the smaller primary in the framework of restricted three-body problem for a number of systems, actual and hypothetical, with mass ratio varying from 10⁻⁷ to 0.015. It is found that as the mass ratio decreases the region of phase space containing the two separatrices shrinks in size and moves closer to the smaller primary. Also the corresponding value of Jacobi constant tends towards 3.     

Nonlinear stability in the restricted three-body problem with oblate and variable mass

This study investigates the nonlinear stability of the triangular equilibrium points when the bigger primary is an oblate spheroid and the infinitesimal body varies (decreases) it’s mass in accordance with Jeans’ law. It is found that these points are stable for all mass ratios in the range of linear stability except for three mass ratios depending upon oblateness coefficient A and β, a constant due to the variation in mass governed by Jeans’ law.     

Stability of triangular equilibrium points of oblate infinitesimal influenced by oblate and radiating primaries in Elliptic Restricted Three Body Problem based on Floquet’s theory

This paper deals with the stability analysis of the triangular equilibrium points for the generalized problem of the photogravitational restricted three body where both the primaries are radiating. The problem is generalized in the sense that the eccentricity of the orbits and the oblateness due to both the primaries and infinitesimal are considered. The stability in the case of linear resonance are analyzed based on the Floquet’s theory for finding the characteristic exponent for a system containing periodic coefficients. It was found that the critical value of μ for the stability boundary for parametric excitation is dependent on the oblateness of the primaries as well as infinitesimal.     

Robe’s restricted problem of 2+2 bodies with one of the primaries an oblate body

In this problem, one of the primaries of mass \(m^{*}_{1}\) is a rigid spherical shell filled with a homogeneous incompressible fluid of density ρ ₁. The smaller primary of mass m ₂ is an oblate body outside the shell. The third and the fourth bodies (of mass m ₃ and m ₄ respectively) are small solid spheres of density ρ ₃ and ρ ₄ respectively inside the shell, with the assumption that the mass and the radius of the third and the fourth body are infinitesimal. We assume that m ₂ is describing a circle around \(m^{*}_{1}\) . The masses m ₃ and m ₄ mutually attract each other, do not influence the motions of \(m^{*}_{1}\) and m ₂ but are influenced by them. We also assume that masses m ₃ and m ₄ are moving in the plane of motion of mass m ₂. In the paper, equilibrium solutions of m ₃ and m ₄ and their linear stability are analyzed. There are two collinear equilibrium solutions for the system. The non collinear equilibrium solutions exist only when ρ ₃=ρ ₄. There exist an infinite number of non collinear equilibrium solutions of the system, provided they lie inside the spherical shell. In a system where the primaries are considered as earth-moon and m ₃,m ₄ as submarines, the collinear equilibrium solutions thus obtained are unstable for the mass parameters μ,μ ₃,μ ₄ and oblateness factor A. In this particular case there are no non-collinear equilibrium solutions of the system.     

Robe’s circular restricted three-body problem with a Roche ellipsoid-triaxial versus oblate system

This paper investigates Robe’s circular restricted three-body problem for two cases: with a Roche ellipsoid-triaxial system and with a Roche ellipsoid-oblate system. Without ignoring any component in both problems, a full treatment is given of the buoyancy force. The relevant equations of motion are established, and the special case where the density of the fluid and that of the infinitesimal mass are equal (D=0) is discussed. The location of the libration point and its stability when the infinitesimal mass is denser than the medium (D>0) are studied and it is found that the point (0,0,0) is the only libration point and this point is stable.     

On the covering of a Hill’s region by solutions in the restricted three-body problem

We consider two classical celestial-mechanical systems: the planar restricted circular three-body problem and its simplification, the Hill’s problem. Numerical and analytical analyses of the covering of a Hill’s region by solutions starting with zero velocity at its boundary are presented. We show that, in all considered cases, there always exists an area inside a Hill’s region that is uncovered by the solutions.     

Regularization of the circular restricted three-body problem using ‘similar’ coordinate systems

The regularization of a new problem, namely the three-body problem, using ‘similar’ coordinate system is proposed. For this purpose we use the relation of ‘similarity’, which has been introduced as an equivalence relation in a previous paper (see Roman in Astrophys. Space Sci. doi:, 2011). First we write the Hamiltonian function, the equations of motion in canonical form, and then using a generating function, we obtain the transformed equations of motion. After the coordinates transformations, we introduce the fictitious time, to regularize the equations of motion. Explicit formulas are given for the regularization in the coordinate systems centered in the more massive and the less massive star of the binary system. The ‘similar’ polar angle’s definition is introduced, in order to analyze the regularization’s geometrical transformation. The effect of Levi-Civita’s transformation is described in a geometrical manner. Using the resulted regularized equations, we analyze and compare these canonical equations numerically, for the Earth-Moon binary system.     

Out-of-plane equilibrium points and their stability in the Robe’s problem with oblateness and triaxiality

This paper examines the existence and stability of the out-of-plane equilibrium points of a third body of infinitesimal mass when the equations of motion are written in the three dimensional form under the set up of the Robe’s circular restricted three-body problem, in which the hydrostatic equilibrium figure of the first primary is an oblate spheroid and the second one is a triaxial rigid body under the full buoyancy force of the fluid. The existence of the out of orbital plane equilibrium points lying on the xz-plane is noticed. These points are however unstable in the linear sense.     

Motion in a modified Chermnykh’s restricted three-body problem with oblateness

In this paper, the restricted problem of three bodies is generalized to include a case when the passively gravitating test particle is an oblate spheroid under effect of small perturbations in the Coriolis and centrifugal forces when the first primary is a source of radiation and the second one an oblate spheroid, coupled with the influence of the gravitational potential from the belt. The equilibrium points are found and it is seen that, in addition to the usual three collinear equilibrium points, there appear two new ones due to the potential from the belt and the mass ratio. Two triangular equilibrium points exist. These equilibria are affected by radiation of the first primary, small perturbation in the centrifugal force, oblateness of both the test particle and second primary and the effect arising from the mass of the belt. The linear stability of the equilibrium points is explored and the stability outcome of the collinear equilibrium points remains unstable. In the case of the triangular points, motion is stable with respect to some conditions which depend on the critical mass parameter; influenced by the small perturbations, radiating effect of the first primary, oblateness of the test body and second primary and the gravitational potential from the belt. The effects of each of the imposed free parameters are analyzed. The potential from the belt and small perturbation in the Coriolis force are stabilizing parameters while radiation, small perturbation in the centrifugal force and oblateness reduce the stable regions. The overall effect is that the region of stable motion increases under the combine action of these parameters. We have also found the frequencies of the long and short periodic motion around stable triangular points. Illustrative numerical exploration is rendered in the Sun–Jupiter and Sun–Earth systems where we show that in reality, for some values of the system parameters, the additional equilibrium points do not in general exist even when there is a belt to interact with.     

Linear stability of equilibrium points in the generalized photogravitational Chermnykh’s problem

The equilibrium points and their linear stability has been discussed in the generalized photogravitational Chermnykh’s problem. The bigger primary is being considered as a source of radiation and small primary as an oblate spheroid. The effect of radiation pressure has been discussed numerically. The collinear points are linearly unstable and triangular points are stable in the sense of Lyapunov stability provided μ<μ _Routh =0.0385201. The effect of gravitational potential from the belt is also examined. The mathematical properties of this system are different from the classical restricted three body problem.     

Reply to: “Comment on the paper ‘On the triangular libration points in photogravitational restricted three-body problem with variable mass’’’ by Varvoglis, H. and Hadjidemetriou, J.D.

Recently Varvoglis and Hadjidemetriou (Astrophys. Space Sci. doi:, 2012; hereafter referred to as paper VH) have raised two points concerning the model of the restricted three-body problem with variable mass presented in our paper (Zhang et al. in Astrophys. Space Sci. 337:107, 2012; hereafter referred to as paper ZZX) and made intensive investigations of this model. These points and investigations are very useful and here we provide some explanation and supplementary specification regarding the model presented in the paper ZZX.     

The effect of radiation pressure on the equilibrium points in the generalized photogravitational restricted three body problem

The existence of equilibrium points and the effect of radiation pressure have been discussed numerically. The problem is generalized by considering bigger primary as a source of radiation and small primary as an oblate spheroid. We have also discussed the Poynting-Robertson (P-R) effect which is caused due to radiation pressure. It is found that the collinear points L ₁,L ₂,L ₃ deviate from the axis joining the two primaries, while the triangular points L ₄,L ₅ are not symmetrical due to radiation pressure. We have seen that L ₁,L ₂,L ₃ are linearly unstable while L ₄,L ₅ are conditionally stable in the sense of Lyapunov when P-R effect is not considered. We have found that the effect of radiation pressure reduces the linear stability zones while P-R effect induces an instability in the sense of Lyapunov.     

Redundant variables for ‘global’ regularization of the three-body problem

It has been shown (Heggie, 1974) that the equations of motion for the three-body problem may be cast into a form which is regular for collisions betweenany pair of bodies. The method proceeds by two stages, namely

Periodic orbits in the photogravitational restricted problem with the smaller primary an oblate body

In this paper, we have studied periodic orbits generated by Lagrangian solutions of the restricted three body problem when more massive body is a source of radiation and the smaller primary is an oblate body. We have determined periodic orbits for fixed values of μ, σ and different values of p and h (μ mass ratio of the two primaries, σ oblate parameter, p radiation parameter and h energy constant). These orbits have been determined by giving displacements along the tangent and normal to the mobile co-ordinates as defined by Karimov and Sokolsky (in Celest. Mech. 46:335, 1989). These orbits have been drawn by using the predictor-corrector method. We have also studied the effect of radiation pressure on the periodic orbits by taking some fixed values of μ and σ.     

Combined effects of perturbations,radiation, and oblateness on the nonlinear stability of triangular points in the restricted three-body problem

This paper investigates the nonlinear stability of the triangular equilibrium points under the influence of small perturbations in the Coriolis and centrifugal forces together with the effect of oblateness and radiation pressures of the primaries. It is found that the triangular points are stable for all mass ratios in the range of linear stability except for three mass ratios depending upon above perturbations, oblateness coefficients and mass reduction factors.     

Collinear equilibrium points of Hill’s problem with radiation and oblateness and their fractal basins of attraction

We discuss the existence, location, and stability of the collinear equilibrium points of a generalized Hill problem with radiation of the primary (the Sun) and oblateness of the secondary (the planet), and present some remarkable fractals created as basins of attraction of Newton’s method applied for their computation in several cases of the parameters.     

Periodic orbits generated by Lagrangian solutions of the restricted three body problem when one of the primaries is an oblate body

We have studied periodic orbits generated by Lagrangian solutions of the restricted three body problem when one of the primaries is an oblate body. We have determined the periodic orbits for different values of μ, h and A (h is energy constant, μ is mass ratio of the two primaries and A is an oblateness factor). These orbits have been determined by giving displacements along the tangent and normal to the mobile coordinates as defined by Karimov and Sokolsky (Celest. Mech. 46:335, 1989). These orbits have been drawn by using the predictor-corrector method. We have also studied the effect of oblateness by taking some fixed values of μ, A and h. As starters for our method, we use some known periodic orbits in the classical restricted three body problem.