Periodic solutions with singularities in two dimensions in the \(n\)-body problem (Q691515)

The authors prove analytically the existence of a symmetric periodic solution with two distinct simultaneous binary collisions in each period in the equal-mass planar Newtonian \(4\)-body problem, where the position \((x_1,x_2)\) of one mass determines the positions \((-x_1,-x_2)\), \((x_2,x_1)\), and \((-x_2,-x_1)\) of the other three masses. The initial positions for the periodic solution are \((1,0)\), \((-1,0)\), \((0,1)\) and \((0,-1)\). By a continuity argument, the authors show analytically the existence of a \(v_0>0\) such that the corresponding initial velocities \((0,v_0)\), \((0,-v_0)\), \((v_0,0)\), and \((-v_0,0)\) produce a solution that experiences its first simultaneous binary collision at time \(t_0\) on the line \(x_2=x_1\) such that the curve traced by the mass at \((x_1,x_2)\) hits the line \(x_2=x_1\) orthogonally at \(t_0\). By regularization and symmetry, this solution extends to a periodic orbit of period \(4t_0\). A bisection method is used to numerically estimate the value of \(v_0\). The authors numerically extend the existence of symmetric periodic solution with two distinct simultaneous binary collisions in each period, to an even number of equal masses starting at equally spaced points on the unit circle with alternating initial velocities tangent to the unit circle. Although this paper did not appear until 2012, the periodic orbit in the \(4\)-body problem, its analytic existence, and the numerical approximation of its initial velocity, were referenced earlier in [the reviewer et al., Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron. 108, No. 2, 147--164 (2010; Zbl 1223.70029); ``Existence and stability of symmetric periodic simultaneous binary collision orbits in the planar pairwise symmetric four-body problem'', Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron. 110, No. 3, 271--290 (2011)]. Since then, other analytic proofs of the existence of this periodic orbit have appeared; see [\textit{M. Shibayama}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 199, No. 3, 821--841 (2011; Zbl 1291.70049); \textit{R. Martínez}, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst., Ser. B 17, No. 3, 943--975 (2012; Zbl 1242.37043)]. The latter gives the analytical existence of the symmetric periodic solution for an even number of equal masses mentioned above.