which says the force must be attractive for circular orbits to be possible.

in additioan, the energy of

the particle must be given by

which, by Eq 3.15, corresponds to the requirement that for a circular orbits r is zero. Equations 3.40
and 3.41 are both elementary and familiar. between them they imply thaat for any attractive central
force it is possible to have a circular orbit at some arbitrary radius ro, provided the angular
momentum l is given by Eq 3.40 and the particle energy by Eq 3.41.

the character of the circular orbit depends on whether the extremum of V' is a minimum, as in Fig
3.8 or a maximum, as if Fig 3.9. if the energy is slightly above that required for a circular orbit at the
given value of l, then for a minimum in V' the motion, though no longer circular, will still be
bounded. however, if V' exhibits a maximum, then the slightest raising of E above the circular value,
Eq 3.34, result in motion that is unbounded, with the particle moving both through the center of
force and out to infinity for the potential shown in Fig 3.9. borrowing the terminology from the case
of statis equilibrium, the circular orbit arising in Fig. 3.8 is said to be stable; that in Fig 3.9 is unstable.
the stability of the radius of the circle, being stable for positive second derivative (V' concave up) and
unstable for V' concave down. A stable orbit therefore occurs if

using Eq 3.40 this condition can be written

where k is assumed to be positive. A power law attctive potential varying more slowly than 1/r is
thus capable of stable circular orbits for all values of r.

if the circular orbit is stable, then a small increase in the particle energy above the value for a
circular orbit results in only a slight variation of r about r. it can be easily shown that for such small
deviations from the circularity conditions, the particle executes a simple harmonic motion in u
abaout vo.

here a is an amplitude that depends upons the deviation of the energy from the value for circular
orbits, and B is a quantity arising from a Taylor series expansion of the force law f about the circular
orbit radius r. direct substitution into the force law gives.

as the radius vector of the particle sweeps completely around the plane, u goes through B cycles of
its oscillation (cf. Fig 3.13). if B is a rational number, yhe ratio of two integers, P, then after q
revolutions of the radius vector the orbit would begin to retrace itself so that the orbit is closed.
at each r such that the inequality in Eq 3.43 is satis fied, it is possible to establish a stable circular
orbit by giving the particle an initial energy an anguler momentum prescribed by Eq 3.40 dan 3.41.
the question naturally arises as to what from the force law must take in order that the slightly
perturbed orbit about any of these circular orbits should be closed. it is clear that under these
conditioans B must not only be a rational number, it must also be the same rational number at all
distances that a circular orbit is possible. otherwise, since B can take on only discrete values, the
number of oscillatory periods would change discontinuously with r and indeed the orbits could not
ne closed at the discontinuity. with B everywhere constant, the defining equation for B, Eq 3.46,
becomes in effect a differential equations for the force law f in terms of the independent variable r.

we can indeed consider Eq 3.46 to be written in terms of r if we keep in mind that the equation is
valud only over the ranges in r for which stable circular orbits are possible. a slight rearrangement of
Eq 3.46 leads to the equation

figure 3.13 orbit for motion in a central force deviating slighty from a circular orbit for B=5

whisch can be immediately integrated to give a force law

all force laws of this form, with B a rational number, lead to closed stable orbits for initial conditions
that differ only slightly from conditions defining a circular orbit. included within the possibilities
allowed by Eq 3.48 are some familiar forces such as the inverse square la (B=1), but od corce many
other behaviors, such as f , are also permitted.

suppose the initial conditions deviate more than slightly from requirements for circular orbits? the
question can be answered direcly by keeping an additional term in the taylor series expansion of the
force law and solving the resultant orbit equation,

J Bertrand solved this problem in 1873 and found that for more than frist order deviations from
circularity, the orbits are closed only for B . the first of these values of B, by Eq 3.48 , leads to the
familiar attractive inverse square law, the second is an attractive force proportional to bthe radial
distance hookes law! these force laws, and only these, could posibbly produce cloced orbits for any
arbitrary combination of l, and in fact we know from direct solution of the equation that they do.
hence, we have bertrand's theorem : the only central forces that result in closed orbits for all bound
particles are the inverse square law and hooke’s law.
This is remarkable result, well worth the tedioud algebra required. It is a commonplace astronomical
obsevation that bound celestial objects move in orbits that are in first approximation closed. For the
most part, the small deviations from a closed orbit are traceable to perturbations such as the
presence of other bodies. The prevalence of closed orbits holds true whether we consider only the
solar systerm, or look to the many examples of true binary stars that have been observed. Now,
hooke;s law is a most unrealistic force law to hold at all distances, for it implies a force increasing
indefinitely to infinity. Thus, the existence of closed orbits for a wide range of initial conditions by
itself leads to the conclusion that the gravitational force varies as the inverse square of the distance.

We can phrase this conclusion in a slightly different manner, one that is of somewhat more
significance in modern physics. The orbital motion in a plane can be looked on as compounded of
two oscillatory motions, one in r and one in 0 with same period. The character of orbits in a
gravitational field fixes the form of the force law. Later on we shall encounter other formulations of
the relation between degeneracy and the nature of the potential.