Geometric properties of minimizers in the planar three-body problem with two equal masses (Q2667171)

In 1896, \textit{H. Poincaré} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris 123, 915--918 (1896; JFM 27.0608.02)] published a short note about periodic solutions and the least action principle in the 3-body problem. In that note he did not mention the major problem of applying the calculus of variations to the \(N\)-body problem. \textit{C. Moore}, an American computer scientist, discovered in 1993 a remarkable figure-eight-shaped periodic solution of the three-body problem with zero angular momentum through calculus of variations based computer calculations [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, No. 24, 3675--3679 (1993; Zbl 1050.37522)]. His work, unfortunately, was unnoticed by the celestial mechanics community until the rediscovery of the same orbits by \textit{A. Chenciner} and \textit{R. Montgomery} [Ann. Math. (2) 152, No. 3, 881--901 (2000; Zbl 0987.70009)]. The crucial assumption in this and subsequent publications, is the physically unrealistic hypothesis that two bodies have equal masses. This avoids the known problem of non-true solutions. A notable exception in this field is [\textit{K.-C. Chen}, Ann. Math. (2) 167, No. 2, 325--348 (2008; Zbl 1170.70006)]. In the present paper, the authors consider a planar three-body problem with \textit{equal} masses. They use Jacobi coordinates to reduce their equations to a Bolza problem, a classical problem in calculus of variations. They prove two new theorems, even though a part of the first theorem has already appeared in the earlier publication [\textit{W. Kuang} et al., Nonlinearity 32, No. 12, 4639--4664 (2019; Zbl 1455.37069)]. The most delicate part in their proofs is eliminating the possibility of binary collisions from the action minimizer. At the end of the paper, they apply their theorems to two families of periodic orbits.