Central configurations and mutual differences

DOI10.3842/SIGMA.2017.021MaRDI QIDQ524767zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Davide L. Ferrario

Publication date 3 May 2017

Published in SIGMA. Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.00480

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zbMATH Keywords

\(n\)-body problemcentral configurationsrelative equilibria

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Stability problems for finite-dimensional Hamiltonian and Lagrangian systems (37J25) Dynamical systems in classical and celestial mechanics (37N05) (n)-body problems (70F10)

Abstract: Central configurations are solutions of the equations $$, where $U$ denotes the potential function and each $$ is a point in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space $Econg{mathbbR}^d$, for $j=1,ldots,n$. We show that the vector of the mutual differences $$ satisfies the equation $$, where $P_m$ is the orthogonal projection over the spaces of $1$-cocycles and $$. It is shown that differences $$ of central configurations are critical points of an analogue of $U$, defined on the space of $1$-cochains in the Euclidean space $E$, and restricted to the subspace of $1$-cocycles. Some generalizations of well known facts follow almost immediately from this approach.

Review text

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.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(9)

• Pfaffians and the inverse problem for collinear central configurations
• Planar \(N\)-body central configurations with a homogeneous potential
• Super central configurations in the collinear 5-body problem
• Fixed points and the inverse problem for central configurations
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• The central drop configurations
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• Inverse problem of central configurations in the collinear 5-body problem
• On the number of central configurations in the n-body problem

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