Bifurcations of planar balanced configurations for the $n$-body problem in $\mathbb{R}^4$

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Kormanna, Katharina, Testolina, Giorgia
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Kormanna, Katharina
Testolina, Giorgia
author_facet Kormanna, Katharina
Testolina, Giorgia
contents Central configurations play a fundamental role in the Newtonian $n$-body problem, as they give rise to motions in which the configuration evolves while preserving its shape up to rotation and scaling. These include relative equilibria, where the configuration rigidly rotates about the center of mass and each body moves along a circular orbit. For $d\le3$, such motions originate only from planar central configurations, whereas in higher dimensions the richer structure of the orthogonal group admits new balanced configurations that can produce non-planar relative equilibria. Building on the framework introduced by Asselle, Portaluri and Fenucci [J. Fixed Point Theory App., 2022], we analyze bifurcations of planar balanced configurations in $\mathbb{R}^4$. We extend a classical variational result, which guarantees the existence of bifurcation points along trivial branches of critical points that are degenerate only at finitely many points, to the case where the trivial branch remains degenerate throughout. Applying this extension, we establish the existence of bifurcation points along the planar balanced configuration branch and derive a lower bound on their number.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_17749
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bifurcations of planar balanced configurations for the $n$-body problem in $\mathbb{R}^4$
Kormanna, Katharina
Testolina, Giorgia
Dynamical Systems
Central configurations play a fundamental role in the Newtonian $n$-body problem, as they give rise to motions in which the configuration evolves while preserving its shape up to rotation and scaling. These include relative equilibria, where the configuration rigidly rotates about the center of mass and each body moves along a circular orbit. For $d\le3$, such motions originate only from planar central configurations, whereas in higher dimensions the richer structure of the orthogonal group admits new balanced configurations that can produce non-planar relative equilibria. Building on the framework introduced by Asselle, Portaluri and Fenucci [J. Fixed Point Theory App., 2022], we analyze bifurcations of planar balanced configurations in $\mathbb{R}^4$. We extend a classical variational result, which guarantees the existence of bifurcation points along trivial branches of critical points that are degenerate only at finitely many points, to the case where the trivial branch remains degenerate throughout. Applying this extension, we establish the existence of bifurcation points along the planar balanced configuration branch and derive a lower bound on their number.
title Bifurcations of planar balanced configurations for the $n$-body problem in $\mathbb{R}^4$
topic Dynamical Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17749