Characteristic exponents atL 4 andL 5 in the elliptic restricted problem of three bodies

We study the linear stability of the triangular points in the elliptic restricted problem by determining the characteristic exponents with a convergent method of iteration which in essence was introduced by Cesari (1940). We obtain the general term of such exponents as a power series in the eccentricity of the primaries, valid for sufficiently small and at all values of except one in the interval of stability of the circular problem.