Two-body problem

Let us consider the motion of 2 point masses m

1
and m
2
. Let the positions of these 2 point masses be
given by r
1
and r
2
. Newton's 3
rd
law tells us that if m
1
exerts a force F
21
on m
2
, m
2
will exert a force F
12

!F
21
on m
1
. "his implies that#
"his means that we can define a center!of!mass vector#
such that dR$dt const. %e can then boost to a frame in which dR$dt & R const. %e can also
define the separation vector r r
1
and r
2
between our 2 masses, implying that#
' central force depends only on the magnitude of r and can be expressed as F !((|r)*. +n this case
the energy of the system can be expressed as#
where
is the reduced mass of the system. %e have thus reduced the 2!body problem for point masses under
the influence of a central force to an effective one!body problem for a single point mass , in the
potential (-r*.
Angular momentum
"he fact that F-r* is a central force implies#
"his in turn implies that the motion is restricted to the plane perpendicular to L. +n polar coordinates -r,
.* in this plane#
"he constancy of the angular momentum implies that the area per unit time swept out by the particle as
it travels along its orbit#
is also constant. "his is /epler's 2
nd
law of planetary motion. "he constancy of the angular momentum
reduces the 2!body problem to a 1!dimensional problem in the radial coordinate#
Equations of motion
%e can solve the above e0uation for dr$dt and integrate to determine r-t*#
"urning points -pericenter and apocenter* occur where the integrand vanishes. +f all we are interested
in is the tra1ectory r-.*, we can instead integrate#
+ntegrating the above expression from pericenter to apocenter yields 2 the angular motion per orbit3 an
orbit is closed if this is a rational multiple of 4 and open otherwise.
'lternatively, we can compute the orbit directly from Newton's 2
nd
law#
5ome not particularly exciting algebra and the substitution d.$dt L$,r
2
shows that this expression can
be rewritten as#
"his e0uation might be useful for finding the orbit -particularly for an inverse!s0uare!law force*, and in
a very straightforward manner gives the force from the orbit r-.*. "his might be useful, for example, if
astronomers observed a stellar orbit and wanted to reconstruct a galaxy's spherically symmetric
gravitational potential -and hence density distribution, including dar6 matter*.
Effective potential
%hen we consider central!force motion as a one!dimensional problem in the radial coordinate#
we can thin6 of the last 2 terms as the effective potential#
"he effective force will therefore be#
"he 1
st
repulsive term is often called the centrifugal force although it is not a fundamental force li6e
gravitation, electromagnetism, etc. +ntuitively, we can thin6 of this as the barrier to orbits approaching
7ero separation. +f the central force is gravity, then#
"he effective potential is shown below#
%e see that a particle with energy 8
1
is unbound, a particle with energy 8
2
is on a bound eccentric orbit
with pericenter r
2
and apocenter r
9
, and a particle with energy 8
3
is on a bound circular orbit with radius
r
3
. +f we set u 1$r, we can find the pericenter and apocenter by solving the 0uadratic e0uation. "hese
are alternatively called perigee -:oon about the 8arth*, perihelion -planet about the 5un*, peribothron
-motion about a blac6 hole*.
+n general relativity, which is 8instein's theory of gravity, there is an additional term in the effective
potential for 5chwar7schild blac6 holes#
"his last term leads to a host of interesting phenomena such as capture of particles with non7ero L,
unstable circular orbits, and the +5;<.
epler!s problem
%e can integrate
to determine the orbit. "his is a 1
st
order <=8, so we need one integration constant which is fixed by
choosing r to be minimi7ed at . &. "he solution, which we can chec6 by differentiating, is
where > L
2
$?:,
2
is the semi!latus rectum and e @-1 A 28L
2
$-?:*
2
,
3
*. "his e0uation describes
conic sections, curves where the ratio of the distance between a point and a line -the directrix* is fixed.
"he value of e determines the shape of the orbit#
B B
min
e & circle
8 C & e C 1 ellipse
8 & e 1 parabola
8 D & e D 1 hyperbola
Elanets, comets, and other ob1ects bound to the 5un move on ellipses of varying eccentricity. "he 8arth
has e &.&1FG -closest to 5un in winter*, the former planet Eluto has e &.29H -closer to the 5un than
Neptune from Ieb. G, 1HGH to Ieb. 11, 1HHH, won be again till 222G*. Jalley's comet has e &.HFG
-tiny for a comet, no one 0uite 6nows why* and had its last perihelion in 1HKF, next in 2&F1. Jopefully
we'll all be around to see itL
8lliptical motion can also be described in terms of the semi!ma1or axis a >$-1!e
2
* ?:,$2)8) and
semi!minor!axis b >$@-1!e
2
*#
"he pericenter and apocenter are#
"o calculate the period of an elliptical orbit, we can return to the previous result#
+ntegrating both sides, we find#
or
"his e0uation, showing that the s0uare of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi!
ma1or axis, is /epler's 3
rd
law. "his completes /epler's 3 laws#
1. Elanets move on elliptical orbits with the 5un at one focus.
2. "he area per unit time swept out by a radius vector from the 5un to a planet is constant.
3. "he s0uare of a planets period is proportional to the cube of its semi!ma1or axis.
"o#mann transfer
"he Johmann transfer is an efficient orbital maneuver to change between circular orbits and nicely
illustrates the energy and angular momenta of /eplerian orbits. ;onsider a roc6et in a circular orbit of
radius r
1
initially. 's shown above, the energy of this orbit is#
+f we want to boost the roc6et up to an orbit of larger radius r
2
, we need to change the velocity by an
amount Mv such that the new orbit will have pericenter r
1
and apocenter r
2
, implying that the new semi!
ma1or axis will be &.N x -r
1
A r
2
* and the new energy will be correspondingly#
5olving for Mv, we find#
"his boost will put the roc6et onto an elliptical orbit with apocenter r
2
, where its velocity can be
determined from#
' second boost parallel to the velocity will be re0uired to circulari7e the orbit at this radius. "his boost
Mv' will increase the energy further to#
5olving for Mv', we find#
'lthough this is the most energy efficient orbital transfer, it is not the shortest trip if you are trying to
travel between planets located at a particular phase on these circular orbits.
$lings#ot effect
8ncounters with 3
rd
bodies can be used to redirect satellites or boost their energy as was most famously
done with the Voyager spacecraft. 'lthough the encounter is hyperbolic and elastic in the rest frame of
the 3
rd
body, in the frame of the central mass it can greatly enhance the spacecraft's speed.
5ince > L
2
$?:,
2
and e @-1 A 28L
2
$-?:*
2
,
3
*, L O & e O 1 P 2 cos
!1
-!1$e* Q 4 O 4 but
also#