Spherical compactifications of central force equations

This paper presents a rigorous and original treatment of compactification methods for ordinary differential equations by developing a comprehensive and unified framework. Beyond its theoretical contributions, the paper highlights the practical relevance of these methods through their application to central force equations -- most notably Kepler's problem -- thereby underscoring the importance of compactification techniques in celestial mechanics.\N\NA central contribution is the introduction of a parameterized family of \textit{spherical compactifications}, which generalize classical Poincaré and stereographic projections by mapping unbounded subsets of \( \mathbb{R}^n \) into bounded subsets of spheres in \( \mathbb{R}^{n+1} \). This construction allows so-called \textit{critical points at infinity} to be treated as genuine fixed points of the compactified system, offering both geometric and analytical tools to understand the asymptotic behavior of solutions.\N\NLet \( \mathbb{S}^{n-1} \) denote the unit sphere in \( \mathbb{R}^n \) centered at the origin:\N\[\N\mathbb{S}^{n-1} := \left\{ U \in \mathbb{R}^n : \|U\| = 1 \right\}.\N\]\NThe \textit{ideal set} associated with \( \mathbb{R}^n \) is defined as \N\[\N\mathrm{ID}_n := \left\{ \infty U : U \in \mathbb{S}^{n-1} \right\}, \tag{2.1} \N\]\Nand consists of idealized points at infinity corresponding to directions specified by unit vectors \( U \in \mathbb{S}^{n-1} \).\N\NA further key element is the construction of the \textit{ultra-extended space} \( \mathrm{UER}^n \), defined as the disjoint union\N\[\N\mathrm{UER}^n := \mathrm{ID}_n \, \dot{\cup} \, \mathbb{R}^n,\N\]\Nand endowed with a complete metric induced by spherical embedding, as established in Theorem~3.8.\N\NLet \( U \) and \( \hat{U} \) be unit vectors in \( \mathbb{R}^n \) representing directions of divergence for sequences tending to infinity. It is shown that the sum \( \infty U + \infty \hat{U} \) does not correspond to a single point, but rather to a continuum of ideal directions interpolating between \( U \) and \( \hat{U} \). This sum is defined as\N\[\N\infty U + \infty \hat{U} := \left\{ \infty V : V = \frac{\theta U + (1 - \theta) \hat{U}}{\|\theta U + (1 - \theta) \hat{U}\|}, \quad 0 \leq \theta \leq 1 \right\},\N\]\Nprovided that \( \theta U + (1 - \theta) \hat{U} \neq \vec{0} \) for all \( \theta \in [0,1] \). The resulting set, denoted \( \infty V_{U, \hat{U}} \), corresponds to the arc on \( \mathbb{S}^{n-1} \) connecting \( U \) and \( \hat{U} \).\N\NIf \( U = \hat{U} \), the sum reduces to the singleton \( \{ \infty U \} \). When the inner product \( \langle U, \hat{U} \rangle \) is positive, the convex combinations \( \theta U + (1 - \theta) \hat{U} \) remain nonzero for all \( \theta \in [0,1] \), ensuring the sum is well-defined. Moreover, the operation is symmetric, so that \( \infty U + \infty \hat{U} = \infty \hat{U} + \infty U \).\N\NThe authors further introduce a novel calculus for manipulating expressions involving ideal points at infinity, including a rigorous definition of addition via approximation sequences. Theorem~2.9 provides the formal justification for this construction, which, to the best of the authors' knowledge, has not previously appeared in the literature.\N\NIn the last part of the paper the spherical compactification is applied to central force equations, focusing in particular on Kepler's problem, where the force is given by\N\[\NF(r) = \frac{mK}{\|\mathbf{r}(t)\|^2}, \quad \mathbf{r}(t) \in \mathbb{R}^3,\N\]\Nwith \( \mathbf{r}(t) \) denoting the position of the particle.\N\NTo analyze such systems globally, the authors introduce a time-dependent rescaling transformation of the form \( w(t) = \theta^{-1}(t)\, z(t) \), which transforms a differential equation \( w'(t) = F(w(t)) \) into a compactified system \( z'(t) = H(z(t)) \) defined on a bounded domain. This transformation brings points at infinity into a finite region, allowing for a unified analysis of both finite and asymptotic behavior.\N\NTheorems~4.3 and~4.11 establish a rigorous correspondence between the critical points of the original and compactified systems -- both at finite positions and at infinity. This correspondence not only validates the compactification approach but also enriches the analytical toolkit for studying the global phase portrait of dynamical systems with unbounded trajectories, such as those arising in celestial mechanics.

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