On the Sundman-Sperling estimates for the restricted one-center-two-body problem

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the Sundman-Sperling estimates for a simplified three-body system involving a massless particle and a collision Kepler system, leading to new collision-free and periodic solutions.

Contribution

It extends Sundman-Sperling estimates to the restricted one-center-two-body problem, enabling the construction of collision-free and periodic solutions.

Findings

Proved Sundman-Sperling estimates near collisions.

Constructed collision-free solutions with prescribed boundary angles.

Generated families of periodic and quasi-periodic solutions.

Abstract

In the past two decades, since the discovery of the figure-8 orbit by Chenciner and Montgomery, the variational method has became one of the most popular tools for constructing new solutions of the $N$-body problem and its extended problems. However, finding solutions to the restricted three-body problem, in particular, the two primaries form a collision Kepler system, remains a great difficulty. One of the major reasons is the essential differences between two-body collisions and three-body collisions. In this paper, we consider a similar three-body system with less difficulty, i.e. the restricted one-center-two-body system, that is involving a massless particle and a collision Kepler system with one body fixed. It is an intermediate system between the restricted three-body problem and the two-center problem. By an in-depth analysis of the asymptotic behavior of the minimizer, and an argument of critical and infliction points, we prove the Sundman-Sperling estimates near the three-body collision for the minimizers. With these estimates, we provide a class of collision-free solutions with prescribed boundary angles. Finally, under the extended collision Kepler system from Gordon, we constructed a family of periodic and quasi-periodic solutions.