Central configurations and mutual differences (Q524767)

The central configurations are special solutions of the \(n\)-body problem where the acceleration vector for each of the \(n\) particles is a scalar multiple of the position vector. They can be viewed as critical points of the potential function \(U\) of the \(n\)-body problem restricted to the topological sphere where the moment of inertia is constant. The author follows the spirit of \textit{A. Albouy} and \textit{A. Chenciner} [Invent. Math. 131, No. 1, 151--184 (1998; Zbl 0919.70005)], to study the problem of central configurations from the point of view of mutual distances; instead of lengths, he considers the space of \textit{differences} of position vectors of the \(n\) bodies. The author is able to embed the central configurations problem into a suitable group of \(C^1\) cochains of degree 1 with coefficients in the Euclidean space. Hence, he shows that the central configurations are critical points of an analogue of the potential function defined on \(C^1\) and restricted to the subspace of \(1\)-cocycles.