Related papers: On the eigenvalues of a central configuration
Motivated by Xia-Zhou's recent work on applying symmetry groups to the N-body problem, we will study relative equilibria of the equilateral triangle and the square configurations under $\alpha$-homogeneous and quasi-homogeneous potentials…
The Lagrangian, the Hamiltonian and the constant of motion of the gravitational attraction of two bodies when one of them has variable mass is considered. This is done by choosing the reference system in one of the bodies which allows to…
To apply Morse's critical point theory, we use mutual distances as coordinates to discuss a kind of central configuration of the planar Newtonian 5-body problem with a trapezoidal convex hull, i.e., four of the five bodies are located at…
We consider the 3-dimensional gravitational $n$-body problem, $n\ge 2$, in spaces of constant Gaussian curvature $\kappa\ne 0$, i.e.\ on spheres ${\mathbb S}_\kappa^3$, for $\kappa>0$, and on hyperbolic manifolds ${\mathbb H}_\kappa^3$, for…
We consider the linear stabilities of the regular n-gon relative equilibria of the (1+n)-body problem. It is shown that there exist at most two kinds of infinitesimal bodies arranged alternatively at the vertices of a regular n-gon when n…
In this article, I discuss the motion of $N$ point masses in non-relativistic mechanics, when the interaction between them is purely the Newtonian gravitational interaction, with $N$ greater than or equal to 2. The dynamical equations of…
This paper summarises a number of new, potentially significant, results, obtained recently by the author and his collaborators, which impact on various issues related to the gravitational N-body problem, both Newtonianly and in the context…
We study central configurations in the four body problem, i.e., configurations in which the forces on all the bodies point to a fixed, single point in space. The newly formulated pair-space formalism yields a set of vectorial equations that…
In the Wigner-covariant rest-frame instant form of dynamics it is possible to develop a relativistic kinematics for the N-body problem. The Wigner hyperplanes define the intrinsic rest frame and realize the separation of the center-of-mass.…
One of the oldest problems in physics is that of calculating the motion of $N$ particles under a specified mutual force: the $N$-body problem. Much is known about this problem if the specified force is non-relativistic gravity, and…
We consider $n$-body problems given by potentials of the form ${\alpha\over r^a}+{\beta\over r^b}$ with $a,b,\alpha,\beta$ constants, $0\le a<b$. To analyze the dynamics of the problem, we first prove some properties related to central…
A n n-body system is a labelled collection of n point masses in Euclidean space, and their congruence and internal symmetry properties involve a rich mathematical structure which is investigated in the framework of equivariant Riemannian…
The degeneracy of central configurations in the planar $N$-body problem makes their enumeration problem hard and the related dynamics appealing. To truly understand the bifurcations of central configurations, we should work in the FULL…
The Lagrangian, the Hamiltonian and the constant of motion of the gravitational attraction of two bodies when one of them has variable mass is considered. The relative and center of mass coordinates are not separated, and choosing the…
It is shown that if a non-autonomous system of $2n$ first-order ordinary differential equations is expressed in the form of the Hamilton equations in terms of two different sets of coordinates, $(q_{i}, p_{i})$ and $(Q_{i}, P_{i})$, then…
In 1970 Don Saari conjectured that the only solutions of the Newtonian $n$-body problem that have constant moment of inertia are the relative equilibria. We prove this conjecture in the collinear case for any potential that involves only…
The conjecture of the existence and the uniqueness of the strictly convex quadrilateral central configuration for the Newtonian 4-body problem is one of the most-talked open problems in the study of the classical n-body problems in…
An approach is developed to find approximate solutions to the classical Newtonian problem of N bodies. Sets of N gravitating bodies having spherically symmetric mass distributions, small angular velocities (< 1 rad/s) and bounded position…
For the power-law potential $n$-body problem, we study a special kind of central configurations where all the masses lie on a circle and the center of mass coincides with the center of the circle. It is also called the centered co-circular…
We prove for a large class of n-body problems including a subclass of quasihomogeneous n-body problems, the classical n-body problem, the n-body problem in spaces of negative constant Gaussian curvature and a restricted case of the n-body…