A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits

In Book 1, Proposition 7, Problem 2 of his 1687 Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton poses and answers the following question: Let the orbit of a particle moving in a central force field be an off-center circle. How does the magnitude of the force depend on the position of the...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
Datum:2023
1. Verfasser: Olshanii, Maxim
Format: Artikel
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Інститут математики НАН України 2023
Online Zugang:https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/211883
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Назва журналу:Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Zitieren:A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits, Maxim Olshanii, SIGMA 19 (2023), 001, 8 pages

Institution

Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
_version_ 1862669577191686144
author Olshanii, Maxim
author_facet Olshanii, Maxim
citation_txt A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits, Maxim Olshanii, SIGMA 19 (2023), 001, 8 pages
collection DSpace DC
container_title Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
description In Book 1, Proposition 7, Problem 2 of his 1687 Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton poses and answers the following question: Let the orbit of a particle moving in a central force field be an off-center circle. How does the magnitude of the force depend on the position of the particle onthat circle? In this article, we identify a potential that can produce such a force, only at zero energy. We further map the zero-energy orbits in this potential to finite-energy free motion orbits on a sphere; such a duality is a particular instance of a general result by Goursat, from 1887. The map itself is an inverse stereographic projection, and this fact explains the circularity of the zero-energy orbits in the system of interest. Finally, we identify an additional integral of motion—an analogue of the Runge-Lenz vector in the Coulomb problem—that is responsible for the closeness of the zero-energy orbits in our problem.
first_indexed 2026-03-16T13:28:44Z
format Article
fulltext
id nasplib_isofts_kiev_ua-123456789-211883
institution Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
issn 1815-0659
language English
last_indexed 2026-03-16T13:28:44Z
publishDate 2023
publisher Інститут математики НАН України
record_format dspace
spelling Olshanii, Maxim
2026-01-14T09:57:13Z
2023
A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits, Maxim Olshanii, SIGMA 19 (2023), 001, 8 pages
1815-0659
2020 Mathematics Subject Classification: 37J35; 68-03
arXiv:2207.09606
https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/211883
https://doi.org/10.3842/SIGMA.2023.001
In Book 1, Proposition 7, Problem 2 of his 1687 Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton poses and answers the following question: Let the orbit of a particle moving in a central force field be an off-center circle. How does the magnitude of the force depend on the position of the particle onthat circle? In this article, we identify a potential that can produce such a force, only at zero energy. We further map the zero-energy orbits in this potential to finite-energy free motion orbits on a sphere; such a duality is a particular instance of a general result by Goursat, from 1887. The map itself is an inverse stereographic projection, and this fact explains the circularity of the zero-energy orbits in the system of interest. Finally, we identify an additional integral of motion—an analogue of the Runge-Lenz vector in the Coulomb problem—that is responsible for the closeness of the zero-energy orbits in our problem.
We thank Francisco J. Jauffred and Bala Sundaram for inspiring this project, and Vanja Dunjko and Steven Jackson for the helpful discussions. We are indebted to the anonymous referee who inspired us to reorganize the original draft drastically and provided the absolutely crucial references [8] and [6]. This work was supported by NSF grant PHY-1912542.
en
Інститут математики НАН України
Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
Article
published earlier
spellingShingle A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
Olshanii, Maxim
title A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
title_full A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
title_fullStr A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
title_full_unstemmed A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
title_short A Novel Potential Featuring Off-Center Circular Orbits
title_sort novel potential featuring off-center circular orbits
url https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/211883
work_keys_str_mv AT olshaniimaxim anovelpotentialfeaturingoffcentercircularorbits
AT olshaniimaxim novelpotentialfeaturingoffcentercircularorbits