L'équation aux variations verticales d'un équilibre relatif comme source de nouvelles solutions périodiques du problème des N corps

We start with a rotating frame which enforces a resonance between the frequency of a relative equilibrium of the N-body problem and that of an infinitesimal variation normal to the plane of the equilibrium. Continuation then yields a remarkable class of periodic solutions. The first example is the $P_{12}$ family, discovered by Christian Marchal, which links the relative equilibrium of Lagrange to the Eight. To cite this article: A. Chenciner, J. Féjoz, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 340 (2005).     

Limit periodic motions in some systems with aftereffect under resonance condition

Volterra-type integrodifferential equations and their solutions are considered which, when the time increases without limit, exponentially tend to periodic modes. In the critical case of stability, when the characteristic equation has a pair of pure imaginary roots and the remaining roots have negative real parts, the problem of the existence of limit periodic solutions with resonance, caused by coincidence between the periodic part of the limit external periodic perturbation and the natural frequency of the linearized system, is solved. It is shown that, if the right-hand side of the equation is an analytic function and the existence of limit periodic solutions is determined by terms of the (2m + 1)-th order, these solutions are represented by power series in the arbitrary initial values of the non-critical variables and the parameter μ^1/(2m+1), where μ is a small parameter, characterizing the magnitude of the maximum external periodic perturbation. The amplitude equations are presented.     

Linear stability of relative equilibria in the charged three-body problem

A relative equilibrium is a periodic orbit of the n-body problem that rotates uniformly maintaining the same central configuration for all time. In this paper we generalize some results of R. Moeckel and we apply it to study the linear stability of relative equilibria in the charged three-body problem. We find necessary conditions to have relative equilibria linearly stable for the collinear charged three-body problem, for planar relative equilibria we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for linear stability in terms of the parameters, masses and electrostatic charges. In the last case we obtain a stability inequality which generalizes the Routh condition of celestial mechanics. We also proof the existence of spatial relative equilibria and the existence of planar relative equilibria of any triangular shape.     

Continuation of periodic motions of a reversible system in non-structurally stable cases. Application to the N-planet problem

The problem of continuing symmetric periodic solutions of an autonomous or periodic system with respect to a parameter is solved. Non-structurally stable cases, when the generating system does not guarantee that the solution can be continued, are considered. Three approaches are proposed to solving the problem: (a) particular consideration of terms that depend on the small parameter and the selection of generating solutions; (b) the selection of a generating system depending on the small parameter; (c) reduction to a quasi-linear system which is then analysed using the first approach. Within the framework of the third approach the existence of a periodic motion is also established that differs from the generating one by a quantity whose order is a fractional power of the small parameter. The theoretical results are used to prove the existence of two families of periodic three-dimensional orbits in the N-planet problem. The orbit of each planet is nearly elliptical and situated in the neighbourhood of its fixed plane; the angle between the planes is arbitrary. The average motions of the planets in these orbits relate to one another as natural numbers (the resonance property), and at instants of time that are multiples of the half-period the planes are either aligned in a straight line—the line of nodes (the first family), or cross the same fixed plane (the second family). The phenomenon of a parade of planets is observed. The planets' directions of motion in their orbit are independent.     

Homographic solutions of the n-body problem in E4

We prove the existence of many homographic solutions of the n-body problem in E⁴ by topological methods. Homographic solutions are associated with relative equilibria. Homothetic solutions always give rise to central configurations. In Euclidean space E⁴ central configurations are a proper subset of the relative equilibria for any n ? 3 and for any (m_i)?R₊ⁿ. We compare the existence and classification of homographic solutions of the n-body problem in E³ with the Newtonian potential and that of homographic solutions of the n-body problem in E⁴. Classifying relative equilibria leads to classifying homographic solutions.     

Morse index properties of colliding solutions to the N-body problem

We study a singular Hamiltonian system with an α-homogeneous potential that contains, as a particular case, the classical N-body problem. We introduce a variational Morse-like index for a class of collision solutions and, using the asymptotic estimates near collisions, we prove the non-minimality of some special classes of colliding trajectories under suitable spectral conditions provided α is sufficiently away from zero. We then prove some minimality results for small values of the parameter α.     

带任意质量的平面2N＋1体问题的周期解

本文研究平面2N+1-体问题的周期解.利用Hermite矩阵和循环矩阵的性质,给出了几何中心带一个质量的平面正多边形套问题存在周期解的必要和充分条件,证明了该周期解的存在唯一性,推广了文献[9]的结论.     

A Study of the Motions of an Autonomous Hamiltonian System at a 1:1 Resonance

We examine the motions of an autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom in a neighborhood of an equilibrium point at a 1:1 resonance. It is assumed that the matrix of linearized equations of perturbed motion is reduced to diagonal form and the equilibrium is linearly stable. As an illustration, we consider the problem of the motion of a dynamically symmetric rigid body (satellite) relative to its center of mass in a central Newtonian gravitational field on a circular orbit in a neighborhood of cylindrical precession. The abovementioned resonance case takes place for parameter values corresponding to the spherical symmetry of the body, for which the angular velocity of proper rotation has the same value and direction as the angular velocity of orbital motion of the radius vector of the center of mass. For parameter values close to the resonance point, the problem of the existence, bifurcations and orbital stability of periodic rigid body motions arising from a corresponding relative equilibrium of the reduced system is solved and issues concerning the existence of conditionally periodic motions are discussed.     

Vlasov limit and discreteness effects in cosmological N-body simulations

We present the problematic of controlling the discreteness effects in cosmological N-body simulations. We describe a perturbative treatment which gives an approximation describing the evolution under self-gravity of a lattice perturbed from its equilibrium, which allows to trace the evolution of the fully discrete distribution until the time when particles approach one another (“shell-crossing”). Perturbed lattices are typical initial conditions for cosmological N-body simulations and thus we can describe precisely the early time evolution of these simulations. A quantitative comparison with fluid Lagrangian theory permits to study discreteness effects in the linear regime of the simulations. We show finally some work in progress about quantifying discreteness effects in the non-perturbative (highly non-linear) regime of cosmological N-body simulations by evolving different discretizations of the same continuous density field.     

Bifurcation and Stability Theory of Periodic Solutions For Integrodifferential Equations

This paper is concerned with a nonlinear integrodifferential equation (the delay logistic equation) governing the growth dynamics of a single species N(t) for time t > 0. This equation contains a positive parameter λ. Suppose that there exists a positive equilibrium solution N = c which is stable for all small values of λ. Assume also that this solution loses stability as λ is increased past a critical value λ*. This will correspond to a simple pure imaginary conjugate pair of roots of a characteristic equation associated with the linearized stability of N = c at λ = λ*. Then we will construct a unique bifurcating time periodic solution of the equation as a Taylor series in a parameter ε. Furthermore this solution exists either for supercritical values of the parameter (λ > λ*) or for subcritical values (λ < λ*). The stability behavior of this small periodic solution can be characterized according to whether the bifurcation is supercritical or subcritical-supercritical solutions are stable, but subcritical solutions are unstable. Therefore these results are analogous to Hoprs bifurcation theorem for autonomous systems of differential equations.     

Periodic orbits in the four body problem with large and small masses

This paper studies the dynamics of the four body problem as a limiting system with two of the masses tending to zero. The relative mass and separation of the two small bodies gives three possible limiting problems, the most interesting of which is called the (2+2)-body problem. Similar limits have been considered by previous authors to study the stability of relative equilibrium. In this paper families of periodic orbits are studied, emanating from relative equilibria and from infinity.     

Linear Stability of the Elliptic Lagrangian Triangle Solutions in the Three-Body Problem

This paper concerns the linear stability of the well-known periodic orbits of Lagrange in the three-body problem. Given any three masses, there exists a family of periodic solutions for which each body is at the vertex of an equilateral triangle and travels along an elliptic Kepler orbit. Reductions are performed to derive equations which determine the linear stability of the periodic solutions. These equations depend on two parameters - the eccentricity e of the orbit and the mass parameter β=27(m₁m₂+m₁m₃+m₂m₃)/(m₁+m₂+m₃)². A combination of numerical and analytic methods is used to find the regions of stability in the βe-plane. In particular, using perturbation techniques it is rigorously proven that there are mass values where the truly elliptic orbits are linearly stable even though the circular orbits are not.     

Irregular dynamics and homoclinic orbits to Hamiltonian saddle centers

We consider 4-dimensional, real, analytic Hamiltonian systems with a saddle center equilibrium (related to a pair of real and a pair of imaginary eigenvalues) and a homoclinic orbit to it. We find conditions for the existence of transversal homoclinic orbits to periodic orbits of long period in every energy level sufficiently close to the energy level of the saddle center equilibrium. We also consider one-parameter families of reversible, 4-dimensional Hamiltonian systems. We prove that the set of parameter values where the system has homoclinic orbits to a saddle center equilibrium has no isolated points. We also present similar results for systems with heteroclinic orbits to saddle center equilibria. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The pyramidal configurations of N+1 bodies cannot rotate

For the (N+1)-body problem, we assume that N bodies are at the vertices of a unit regular polygon and the (N+1)st body is along the vertical line normal to the plane formed by the former N bodies. If N bodies rotate at the unit circle and the (N+1)st body oscillates along the vertical line of the plane formed by the former N bodies and passing through the geometrical center, then we prove that the (N+1)st body must locate at the geometrical center of unit regular polygon.     

Relative Equilibria of the (1+N)-Vortex Problem

We examine existence and stability of relative equilibria of the n-vortex problem specialized to the case where N vortices have small and equal circulation and one vortex has large circulation. As the small circulation tends to zero, the weak vortices tend to a circle centered on the strong vortex. A special potential function of this limiting problem can be used to characterize orbits and stability. Whenever a critical point of this function is nondegenerate, we prove that the orbit can be continued via the Implicit Function Theorem, and its linear stability is determined by the eigenvalues of the Hessian matrix of the potential. For N≥3 there are at least three distinct families of critical points associated to the limiting problem. Assuming nondegeneracy, one of these families continues to a linearly stable class of relative equilibria with small and large circulation of the same sign. This class becomes unstable as the small circulation passes through zero and changes sign. Another family of critical points which is always nondegenerate continues to a configuration with small vortices arranged in an N-gon about the strong central vortex. This class of relative equilibria is linearly unstable regardless of the sign of the small circulation when N≥4. Numerical results suggest that the third family of critical points of the limiting problem also continues to a linearly unstable class of solutions of the full problem independent of the sign of the small circulation. Thus there is evidence that linearly stable relative equilibria exist when the large and small circulation strengths are of the same sign, but that no such solutions exist when they have opposite signs. The results of this paper are in contrast to those of the analogous celestial mechanics problem, for which the N-gon is the only relative equilibrium for N sufficiently large, and is linearly stable if and only if N≥7.     

The periodic motions of a non-autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom at parametric resonance of the fundamental type

The motion of an almost autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom, 2π-periodic in time, is considered. It is assumed that the origin is an equilibrium position of the system, the linearized unperturbed system is stable, and its characteristic exponents ±iωj (j = 1,2) are pure imaginary. In addition, it is assumed that the number 2ω₁ is approximately an integer, that is, the system exhibits parametric resonance of the fundamental type. Using Poincaré's theory of periodic motion and KAM-theory, it is shown that 4π-periodic motions of the system exist in a fairly small neighbourhood of the origin, and their bifurcation and stability are investigated. As applications, periodic motions are constructed in cases of parametric resonance of the fundamental type in the following problems: the plane elliptical restricted three-body problem near triangular libration points, and the problem of the motion of a dynamically symmetrical artificial satellite near its cylindrical precession in an elliptical orbit of small eccentricity.     

The existence and multiplicity of solutions for an impulsive differential equation with two parameters via a variational method

In this paper, we study the existence and multiplicity of classical solutions for a second-order impulsive differential equation with periodic boundary conditions. By using a variational method and critical point theory, we give some new criteria to guarantee that the impulsive problem has at least one solution, two solutions and infinitely many solutions when the parameter pair (c,λ) lies in different intervals, respectively. Some examples are given in this paper to illustrate the main results.     

Some counterexamples to a generalized Saari's conjecture

For the Newtonian -body problem, Saari's conjecture states that the only solutions with a constant moment of inertia are relative equilibria, solutions rigidly rotating about their center of mass. We consider the same conjecture applied to Hamiltonian systems with power-law potential functions. A family of counterexamples is given in the five-body problem (including the Newtonian case) where one of the masses is taken to be negative. The conjecture is also shown to be false in the case of the inverse square potential and two kinds of counterexamples are presented. One type includes solutions with collisions, derived analytically, while the other consists of periodic solutions shown to exist using standard variational methods.

     

Collapse in the n-Dimensional Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation—A Parallel with Sundman's

Collapse of solutions of the n-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation are studied using the integrals of the motion and an equation corresponding to the Lagrange-Jacobi virial equation of classical mechanics. There are strong parallels with collapse in the classical N-body problem and in particular with the results of K. F. Sundman. Collapse occurs when the amplitude of the solution becomes singular as the initial data collapse to the center of mass in finite time. In some cases the singularity is inevitable (for negative energy), but in others only a necessary condition for collapse can be derived, involving the angular momentum.