English

A four--dimensional Neumann ovaloid

Complex Variables 2016-09-27 v1 Mathematical Physics Analysis of PDEs math.MP

Abstract

What is the shape of a uniformly massive object that generates a gravitational potential equivalent to that of two equal point-masses? If the weight of each point-mass is sufficiently small compared to the distance between the points then the answer is a pair of balls of equal radius, one centered at each of the two points, but otherwise it is a certain domain of revolution about the axis passing through the two points. The existence and uniqueness of such a domain is known, but an explicit parameterization is known only in the plane where the region is referred to as a Neumann oval. We construct a four-dimensional "Neumann ovaloid", solving explicitly this inverse potential problem.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.07702,
  title  = {A four--dimensional Neumann ovaloid},
  author = {Lavi Karp and Erik Lundberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.07702},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

14 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:00:20.685Z