Abstract
In two different three body problems, oscillatory orbits have been shown to exist for the three-body problem in Celestial Mechanics: Sitnikov, Alekseev, Moser, and McGehee considered a spatial problem which had one degree of freedom; Easton, McGehee, and Xia considered a planar problem which had at least three degrees of freedom. Both situations involve analyzing the motion as one particle with mass \(m_3\) goes to infinity while the other two masses stay bounded in elliptic motion. Motion with \(m_3\) at infinity corresponds to a periodic orbit in the first problem and the Hopf flow on \(S^3\) in the second problem, both of which are normally degenerately hyperbolic. The proof of the existence of oscillatory orbits uses stable and unstable manifolds for these degenerate cases. In order to get the symbolic dynamics which shows the existence of oscillation, the orbits which go near infinity need to be controlled for an unbounded length of time. In this paper, we prove that the flow near infinity for the Easton–McGehee example with three degrees of freedom is topologically equivalent to a product flow, i.e., a Grobman–Hartman type theorem in the degenerate situation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alekseev, V.M.: On the capture orbits for the 3-body problem for negative energy constant. Uspehi Mat. Nauk. 24, 185–186 (1969)
Alekseev, V.M.: Quasirandom dynamical systems, I, II, III. Math. USSR Sbornik 5, 73–128 (1968); 6, 505–560 (1968); 7, 1–43 (1969)
Easton, R.: Parabolic orbits in the planar three body problem. J. Diff. Equ. 52, 116–134 (1984)
Easton, R., McGehee, R.: Homoclinic phenomena for orbits doubly asymptotic to an invariant three-sphere. Indiana J. Math. 28, 211–240 (1979)
McGehee, R.: A stable manifold theorem for degenerate fixed points with applications to celestial mechanics. J. Diff. Equ. 14, 70–88 (1973)
Moser, J.: Stable and random motions in dynamical systems. In Annals of Math. Studies 77, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ (1973)
Morrisey, T.: A degenerate Hartman theorem. Isr. J. Math. 95, 157–167 (1966)
Palis, J., Takens, F.: Topological equivalence of normally hyperbolic dynamical systems. Topology 16, 335–345 (1977)
Pugh, C., Shub, M.: Linearization of normally hyperbolic diffeomorphisms and flows. Inven. Math. 10, 187–198 (1970)
Robinson, C.: Homoclinic orbits and oscillation for the planar three-body problem. J. Diff. Equ. 52, 356–377 (1984)
Robinson, C.: Stable manifolds in Hamiltonian systems. Contemp. Math. 81, 77–97 (1988)
Sitnikov, K.: Existence of oscillating motion for the three body problem. Dokl. Akad. Nauk. USSR 133, 303–306 (1960)
Xia, Z.: A heteroclinic map and the oscillation, capture, escape motions in the three body problem. In: Hamiltonian Systems and Celestial Mechanics (Guanajuato 1991), Adv. Ser. Nonlinear Dynamics 4, 191–208 (1993)
Xia, Z.: Arnold diffusion and oscillatory solutions in the planar three-body problem. J. Diff. Equ. 110, 289–321 (1994)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robinson, C. Topological Decoupling Near Planar Parabolic Orbits. Qual. Theory Dyn. Syst. 14, 337–351 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12346-015-0130-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12346-015-0130-7