On the Sun-shadow dynamics (Q2670228)

In this paper, the authors investigate the planar motion of a mass particle under the alternated action of two different force fields: one of Kepler's problem and the other of Stark's problem, where a constant force is added to the central one. This model is called ``Sun-shadow'' dynamics, and referring to the motion of an Earth satellite with short-period evolution perturbed by the solar radiation pressure (srp) and considering the Earth shadow effect, when the satellite spends, alternately, some time in the Earth shadow and some time in the region where the solar radiation pressure acts. The existence of periodic orbits of brake type is proved, and the Sun-shadow dynamics is investigated by means of a Poincare map, in the plane of motion of the satellites, defined by a quantity that is not conserved along the flow. The authors, also, present the results of their numerical investigations on some properties of the map, prove that the fixed points related to the periodic orbits of brake type are hyperbolic, and compute the stable and unstable manifolds of these points. Finally, the global picture of the map shows evidence of regular and chaotic behavior.