Understanding the Dynamics of Collision and Near-Collision Motions in the N-Body Problem

2012/08/30 by Lenanrd F. Bakker, Bakker, Lenanrd F.
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control #math.DS #msc:37C27 #msc:37J25 #msc:70F16

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1208.6313

17 pages

arxiv created 2012/08/30 · arxiv updated 2012/09/03

Abstract

Although rare, collisions of two or more bodies in the N-body problem are apparent obstacles at which Newton's Law of Gravity ceases to make sense. Without understanding the nature of collisions, a complete understanding of the N-body problem can not be achieved. Historically, several methods have been developed to probe the nature of collisions in the N-body problem. One of these methods removes, or regularizes, certain types of collisions entirely, thereby relating not only analytically, but also numerically, the dynamics of such collision motions with their near collision motions. By understanding the dynamics of collision motions in the regularized setting, a better understanding of the dynamics of near-collision motions is achieved.

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