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Minimum energy configurations in the N-body problem and the celestial mechanics of granular systems

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Abstract

Minimum energy configurations in Celestial Mechanics are investigated. It is shown that this is not a well defined problem for point-mass celestial mechanics but well-posed for finite density distributions. This naturally leads to a granular mechanics extension of usual Celestial Mechanics questions such as relative equilibria and stability. This paper specifically studies and finds all relative equilibria and minimum energy configurations for N = 1, 2, 3 and develops hypotheses on the relative equilibria and minimum energy configurations for N ≫ 1 bodies.

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  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, The University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    D. J. Scheeres

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  1. D. J. Scheeres
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Scheeres, D.J. Minimum energy configurations in the N-body problem and the celestial mechanics of granular systems. Celest Mech Dyn Astr 113, 291–320 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-012-9416-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-012-9416-0

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