Periodic motion of a system of two or three charged particles (Q1589702)

This paper presents a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of periodic solutions to the system \[ \begin{aligned} x_1 '' &= -Ag(x_2 -x_1)-Bg(x_3 -x_1)+h(t),\\ x_2'' &= Ag(x_2 -x_1)-Cg(x_3 -x_2)+k(t),\\ x_3'' &= Bg(x_3 -x_1)+Cg(x_3-x_2)+p(t),\end{aligned} \] where \(A\), \(B\) and \(C\) are positive numbers and \(h\), \(k\) and \(p\) are periodic functions. The conditions imposed on \(g\) include the example \(g(x)=x^{-\alpha}\) with \(\alpha \geq 1 \). For \(\alpha =2\) this system governs the forced motion of three particles placed on a line and having charges of the same sign. The authors also discuss systems of two particles. In this situation they can also analyze particles with charges of opposite sign.