English

Saari's Conjecture for the Collinear $n$-Body Problem

Mathematical Physics 2009-09-29 v1 math.MP

Abstract

In 1970 Don Saari conjectured that the only solutions of the Newtonian nn-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 mutual distances. Furthermore, in the case of homogeneous potentials, we show that the only collinear and non-zero angular momentum solutions are homographic motions with central configurations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0909.4909,
  title  = {Saari's Conjecture for the Collinear $n$-Body Problem},
  author = {Florin Diacu and Ernesto Perez-Chavela and Manuele Santoprete},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0909.4909},
  year   = {2009}
}
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