Scattering parabolic solutions for the spatial \(N\)-centre problem (Q509958)

The paper is dealing with the ``\(N\)-centre problem'' which is defined by the scattering off a potential determined by \(N\) fixed masses \(m_i\) at positions \(c_i\), \[ V(x) = \sum_{i=1}^N \frac{m_i}{\alpha | x - c_i |^\alpha}. \] Apparently, there exist parabolic trajectories as solutions. In Section 2, general properties of such parabolic solutions of the \(N\)-centre problem are listed. The main part of the paper deals with the ``fixed-endpoints problem'', where the endpoints of the trajectories at positive and negative times are attached to some certain value. It is shown that the Morse index of that solution is bounded by one. Especially colliosionless solutions are discussed and the connection with the Morse index established.