Chaotic motions in the restricted four body problem via Devaney's saddle-focus homoclinic tangle theorem (Q2423229)

The authors introduce the mathematical formulation of the planar Circular Restricted Four Body Problem (CRFBP), consisting of three masses \(0<m_3\leq m_2\leq m_1<1\), such that \(m_1+m_2+m_3=1\), and a forth massless particle (like an asteroid or space craft in co-rotating coordinates). They focus on the dynamics of the massless particle, when it moves in the gravitational field of the first three particles. The paper contains several results. They review the parameterization method for invariant manifolds, and use the power series methods for the solution of the resulting partial differential equations. The authors propose a change of variables which transforms the CRFBP to a polynomial system of seven differential equations. They ``prove the existence of chaotic motions in an equilateral planar CRFBP, establishing that the system is not integrable. The proof works by verifying the hypotheses of a topological forcing theorem for Hamiltonian vector fields on \(\mathbb{R}^4\) which hypothesizes the existence of a transverse homoclinic orbit in the energy manifold of a saddle focus equilibrium''. ``Additionally, the method is constructive and yields additional byproducts such as the locations of transverse connecting orbits, quantitative information about the invariant manifolds, and bounds on transport times''. ``Finally, the paper concludes with several appendices containing additional technical details''. The paper combines theoretical and numerical results for the CRFBP. It is well written and contains many references.