Non-simultaneous collision periodic solutions for \(N\)-body problems (Q1365089)

The authors consider the system \(m_i\ddot x_i(t)+\nabla _{x_i}V(t,x_1(t),\dots,x_N(t))=0,x_i(t)\in \mathbb{R} ^k,i=1,\dots,N\), where \(m_i>0\), and \(V\) satisfies \(V(t,x_1,\dots,x_N)=(1/2)\sum_{i\neq j}V_{ij}(t,x_i-x_j)\); \(V(t+T/2,-x_1,\dots,-x_N)=V(t,x_1,\dots,x_N)\); \(V_{ij}\in C^2(\mathbb{R}\times (\mathbb{R}^k\backslash \{0\})),i\neq j\); \(V_{ij}(t,\xi)\rightarrow -\infty \) uniformly in \(t\) as \(| \xi| \rightarrow 0\); \(V(t,x_1,\dots,x_N)\leq -(b/2)\sum_{i\neq j}(m_im_j/| x_i-x_j| ^\alpha),b>0\); \(V(t,x_1,\dots,x_N)\geq -(a/2)\sum_{i\neq j}(m_im_j/| x_i-x_j| ^\alpha),a>b\). A function \(X=(t,x_1,\dots,x_N)\in C^2(\mathbb{R},(\mathbb{R}^k)^N)\) is a \(T\)-periodic simultaneous collision solution of the system if it is \(T\)-periodic and there exists \(t^{*}\) such that \(x_1(t^{*})=\dots=x_N(t^{*})\). The existence of such a solution for the given system is obtained by using the critical points of a suitable functional.