Regularized variational principles for the perturbed Kepler problem

DOI10.1016/J.AIM.2021.107694MaRDI QIDQ2020409zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Vivina Barutello, Rafael Ortega, Gianmaria Verzini

Publication date 23 April 2021

Published in Advances in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.09383

constrained critical points forced problem generalized solutions Kepler problem periodic solutions regularization

Periodic solutions to ordinary differential equations (34C25) Existence of solutions for minimax problems (49J35) Two-body problems (70F05) Collisions in celestial mechanics, regularization (70F16)

Abstract: The goal of the paper is to develop a method that will combine the use of variational techniques with regularization methods in order to study existence and multiplicity results for the periodic and the Dirichlet problem associated to the perturbed Kepler system [ ddot x = -frac{x}{|x|^3} + p(t), quad x in mathbb{R}^d, ] where

d g e q 1

, and

p : m a t h b b R o m a t h b b R^{d}

is smooth and

T

-periodic,

T > 0

. The existence of critical points for the action functional associated to the problem is proved via a non-local change of variables inspired by Levi-Civita and Kustaanheimo-Stiefel techniques. As an application we will prove that the perturbed Kepler problem has infinitely many generalized

T

-periodic solutions for

d = 2

and

d = 3

, without any symmetry assumptions on

p

.

Review text

In this paper the authors propose a new method that combines the use of variational techniques with regularization methods in order to study existence and multiplicity results for the periodic and the Dirichlet problem associated to the perturbed Kepler system \[ \ddot{x} =-\frac{x}{|x|^3} + p(t), \quad x\in\mathbb{R}^d, \tag{1}\] where \(d\geq 1\), and \(p: \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}^d\) is smooth and \(t\)-periodic, \(T>0\). The \textit{action functional}, associated to (1) is \[ \mathcal{A} (x) = \int_0^T \left[\frac{1}{2}|\dot{x}(t)|^2 + \frac{1}{|x(t)|} + \langle p(t),x(t) \rangle \right] \: dt, \] which is (well defined and) finite in \[ \mathfrak{X} := \left\{ x\in H^1(0,T;\mathbb{R}^d): \int_0^T \frac{dt}{|x(t)|} <\infty\right\}. \] It is natural to search for \(T\)-periodic solutions of (1) by looking for critical points of the action functional \(\mathcal{A}\) on \(\mathfrak{X}\). The main problem encountered with this approach is related to the so-called possibility of ``binary collisions, i.e. \(x=0\). In order to regularize the singularity due to collision, the authors exploit some changes of variables (both for \(t\) and \(x\)) in such a way that the action functional in the new variables is regularized, that is, it does not contain a singular potential term. The basic idea is to regularize the system (1) by a change of variables from \(x =x(t)\) to \(y=y(\tau)\), where \[ \tau = \int_0^t \frac{d\xi}{|x(\xi)|}, \quad x= \Phi (y). \] Here \(\Phi\) is an appropriate homogeneous function of degree 2 (different choices are available, depending on the spatial dimension \(d\)). The different choices for \(\Phi\) are inspired by classical regularization techniques for the Kepler problem (Sundman, Levi-Civita, Kustaanheimo-Stiefel). Accordingly, the functional \(\mathcal{A}\) is transformed into a new functional \[ {\mathcal B} (y) = \int_0^1 \beta \left( \tau, y(\tau),y'(\tau), \int_0^\tau |y(\xi )|^2d\xi, \| y\|_2\right) \: d\tau, \] where \(\|\cdot \|_2\) is the norm in \(L^2((0,1); \mathbb{R}^d)\). Once the variational principles are established, the rest of the paper is devoted to applications, for either Dirichlet or periodic boundary conditions. First, they consider the minimization \({\mathcal B} \) in the Sobolev space \(H^1_0(0, 1; \mathbb{R}^d)\). This lead to the existence of a generalized solution of (1) satisfying the Dirichlet boundary conditions \(x(0) =x(T) =0\). This is done for any dimension \(d \geq 1\). In the last part of the paper, the authors assume that \(p\) is \(C^1\) on \(\mathbb{R}\) and \(T\)-periodic, and they look for periodic generalized solutions to (1) in dimension \(d =2\) where action functional is taken in the space of 1-periodic loops, and adapt the definition of \(\Phi\) to the classical Levi-Civita change of variables. Lastly, an analogous method is used for dimension 3, but the proof is more delicate and the definition of \(\Phi\) is now inspired by the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel change of variables.

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