Periodic motions of a reversible second-order mechanical system: Application to the Sitnikov problem

A theory of the symmetric periodic motions (SPMs) of a reversible second-order system is presented which covers both oscillations and rotations. The structural stability property of the generating autonomous reversible system, which lies in the fact that the presence or absence of SPMs in a perturbed system is independent of the actual form of the “reversible” perturbations, is established. Both the case of the generation of SPMs from the family of SPMs of the generating system and birth cycle from the equilibrium state are investigated. Criteria of Lyapunov stability in a non-degenerate situation are obtained for the SPMs which are generated (in case of small values of the parameter). A method is proposed for constructing and investigating the Lyapunov stability of all the SPMs. The conditions for the existence of a cycle (symmetric and asymmetric) in the neighbourhood of a support “almost” resonance SPM are established for all cases of resonances. The theoretical results are applied to a study of the motion of a particle along a straight line which passes through the centre of mass of the system perpendicular to the plane of the identical attracting and simultaneously radiating main bodies (an extension of the Sitnikov problem) in the photogravitational version of the three-body problem. The circular problem is analysed and two different series of families of SPMs are found in the weakly elliptic problem. The instability of the equilibrium state is proved in the case of parametric resonance and the stability (and instability) domains are distinguished for arbitrary values of the eccentricity. All the SPMs with a period of 2π are constructed and the property of Lyapunov stability is investigated for these motions.