1,720,973 research outputs found

    Classical and relativistic n-body problem: from Levi-Civita to the most advanced interplanetary missions

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    The n-body problem is one of the most important issues in Celestial Mechanics. This article aims to retrace the historical and scientific events that led the Paduan mathematician, Tullio Levi-Civita, to deal with the problem first from a classic and then a relativistic point of view. We describe Levi-Civita’s contributions to the theory of relativity focusing on his epistolary exchanges with Einstein, on the problem of secular acceleration and on the proof of Brillouin’s cancellation principle. We also point out that the themes treated by Levi-Civita are very topical. Specifically, we analyse how the mathematical formalism used nowadays to test General Relativity can be found in Levi-Civita’s texts and evolves over the years up to the current Parametrised version of the Post-Newtonian approximation (PPN) which is used in high precision contexts such as important space missions designed also to test General Relativity and which aims to estimate with very high accuracy the PPN parameters

    Periodic and quasi-periodic attractors of the dissipative standard map

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    We present analytical and numerical investigations of the dynamics of the dissipative standard map. We first study the existence of periodic orbits by using a constructive version of the implicit function theorem; then, we introduce a parametric representation, which provides the interval of the drift parameter ensuring the existence of a periodic orbit with a given period. The determination of quasi periodic attractors is efficiently obtained using the parametric representation combined with a Newton's procedure, aimed to reduce the error of the approximate solution provided by the parametric representation. These methods allow us to relate the drift parameter of the periodic orbits to that of the invariant attractors, as well as to constrain the drift of a periodic orbit within Arnold's tongues in the parameter space

    High order normal form construction near the elliptic orbit of the Sitnikov problem

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    We consider the Sitnikov problem; from the equations of motion we derive the approximate Hamiltonian flow. Then, we introduce suitable action-angle variables in order to construct a high order normal form of the Hamiltonian. We introduce Birkhoff Cartesian coordinates near the elliptic orbit and we analyze the behavior of the remainder of the normal form. Finally, we derive a kind of local stability estimate in the vicinity of the periodic orbit for exponentially long times using the normal form up to 40th order in Cartesian coordinates

    Euler integral as a source of chaos in the three–body problem

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    In this paper we address, from a purely numerical point of view, the question, raised in Pinzari (2019), Pinzari (2020), and partly considered in Pinzari (2020), Di Ruzza et al. (2020), Chen and Pinzari (2021), whether a certain function, referred to as “Euler Integral”, is a quasi-integral along the trajectories of the three-body problem. Differently from our previous investigations, here we focus on the region of the “unperturbed separatrix”, which turns to be complicated by a collision singularity. Concretely, we reduce the Hamiltonian to two degrees of freedom and, after fixing some energy level, we discuss in detail the resulting three-dimensional phase space around an elliptic and an hyperbolic periodic orbit. After measuring the strength of variation of the Euler Integral (which are in fact small), we detect the existence of chaos closely to the unperturbed separatrix. The latter result is obtained through a careful use of the machinery of covering relations, developed in Gierzkiewicz and Zgliczyński (2019), Zgliczynski and Gidea (2004), Wilczak and Zgliczynski (2003)

    Chaotic coexistence of librational and rotational dynamics in the averaged planar three-body problem

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    Through an appropriate change of reference frame and rescalings of the variables and the parameters introduced, the Hamiltonian of the three-body problem is written as a perturbed Kepler problem. In this system, new Delaunay variables are defined and a suitable configuration of the phase space and the mass parameters is chosen. In such a system, wide regions of librational and rotational motions where orbits are regular and stable are found. Close to the separatrix of these regions, the existence of chaotic motions presenting a double rotational and librational dynamics is proved, numerically, through Poincare sections and the use of FLI

    Resonances in the solar system

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    We give a description of orbital and spin-orbit resonances in the solar system, providing several examples which include planets, satel- lites, asteroids, rings, Kuiper objects

    The relativity experiment of MORE: global full-cycle simulation and results

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    BepiColombo is a joint ESA/JAXA mission to Mercury with challenging objectives regarding geophysics, geodesy and fundamental physics. In particular, the Mercury Orbiter Radioscience Experiment (MORE) intends, as one of its goals, to perform a test of General Relativity. This can be done by measuring and constraing the post-Newtonian (PN) parameters to an accuracy significantly better than current one. In this work we perform a global full-cycle simulation of the BepiColombo Radio Science Experiments (RSE) in a realistic scenario, focussing on the relativity experiment but solving simultaneously for all the parameters of interest for RSE in a global least squares fit within a constrained multiarc strategy. The results on the achievable accuracy for each PN parameter will be presented and discussed

    On the co-orbital asteroids in the solar system: medium-term timescale analysis of the quasi-coplanar objects

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    The focus of this work is the current distribution of asteroids in co-orbital motion with Venus, Earth and Jupiter, under a quasi-coplanar configuration and for a medium-term timescale of the order of 900 years. A co-orbital trajectory is a heliocentric orbit trapped in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with a given planet. As such, to model it this work considers the Restricted Three-Body Problem in the planar circular case with the help of averaging techniques. The domain of each co-orbital regime, that is, the quasi-satellite motion, the horseshoe motion and the tadpole motion, can be neatly defined by means of an integrable model and a simple two-dimensional map, that is invariant with respect to the mass parameter of the planet, and turns out to be a remarkable tool to investigate the distribution of the co-orbitals objects of interest. The study is based on the data corresponding to the ephemerides computed by the JPL Horizons system for asteroids with a sufficient low orbital inclination with respect to the Sun–planet orbital plane. These objects are cataloged according to their current dynamics, together with the transitions that occur in the given time frame from a given type of co-orbital motion to another. The results provide a general catalog of co-orbital asteroids in the solar system, the first one to our knowledge, and an efficient mean to study transitions

    On the propagation of a perturbation in an anharmonic system

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    We give a not trivial upper bound on the velocity of disturbances in an infinitely extended anharmonic system at thermal equilibrium. The proof is achieved by combining a control on the non equilibrium dynamics with an explicit use of the state invariance with respect to the time evolution

    Nearly-integrable dissipative systems and celestial mechanics

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    The influence of dissipative effects on classical dynamical models of Celestial Mechanics is of basic importance. We introduce the reader to the subject, giving classical examples found in the literature, like the standard map, the Hénon map, the logistic mapping. In the framework of the dissipative standard map, we investigate the existence of periodic orbits as a function of the parameters. We also provide some techniques to compute the breakdown threshold of quasi-periodic attractors. Next, we review a simple model of Celestial Mechanics, known as the spin-orbit problem which is closely linked to the dissipative standard map. In this context we present the conservative and dissipative KAM theorems to prove the existence of quasi-periodic tori and invariant attractors. We conclude by reviewing some dissipative models of Celestial Mechanics. Among the rotational dynamics we consider the Yarkovsky and YORP effects; within the three-body problem we introduce the so-called Stokes and Poynting-Robertson effects
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