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Euler's three-body problem is to describe the motion of a particle under the influence of two
centers that attract the particle with central forces that decrease with distance as an inverse-
square law, such as Newtonian gravity or Coulomb's law. Examples of Euler's problem include a
planet moving in the gravitational field of two stars, or an electron moving in the electric field of
two nuclei, such as the first ion of the hydrogen molecule, namely the Hydrogen molecule-ion
H2+. The strength of the two inverse-square forces need not be equal; for illustration, the two
attracting stars may have different masses, and the two nuclei may have different charges, as in
the molecular ion HeH2+.
This problem was first considered by Leonhard Euler, who showed that it had an exact solution
in 1760.[9] Joseph Louis Lagrange solved a generalized problem in which the centers exert both
linear and inverse-square forces.[10] Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi showed that the rotation of the
particle about the axis of the two fixed centers could be separated out, reducing the general three-
dimensional problem to the planar problem.[11]
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The problem of two fixed centers conserves energy; in other words, the total energy is a
constant of motion. The potential energy is given by
where represents the particle's position, and V1 and V2 are the distances between the particle and
the centers of force; ȝ1 and ȝ2 are constants that measure the strength of the first and second
forces, respectively. The total energy equals sum of this potential energy with the particle's
kinetic energy
where and á are the particle's mass and linear momentum, respectively.
The particle's linear and angular momentum are not conserved in Euler's problem, since the two
centers of force act like external forces upon the particle, which may yield a net force and torque
on the particle. Nevertheless, Euler's problem has a second constant of motion
where 2 is the separation of the two centers of force, ș1 and ș2 are the angles of the lines
connecting the particle to the centers of force, with respect to the line connecting the centers.
This second constant of motion was identified by E. T. Whittaker in his work on analytical
mechanics,[12], and generalized to dimensions by Coulson and Joseph in 1967.[13] In the
Coulson-Joseph form, the constant of motion is written
This constant of motion corresponds to the total angular momentum ||2 in the limit when the
two centers of force converge to a single point (-0), and proportional to the Laplace-Runge-
Lenz vector r in the limit when one of the centers goes to infinity (- while - remains
finite).
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r special case of the quantum mechanical three-body problem is the Hydrogen molecule-ion
. Two of the three bodies are nuclei and the third is a fast moving electron. The two nuclei
are 1800 times heavier than the electron and thus modeled as fixed centers. It is well known that
the Schrödinger wave equation is separable in Prolate spheroidal coordinates and can be
decoupled into two ordinary differential equations coupled by the energy eigenvalue and a
separation constant. [14] However, solutions required series expansions from basis sets.
Nonetheless, through experimental mathematics, it was found that the energy eigenvalue was
mathematically a j V of the Lambert W function [15] (see Lambert W function and
references therein for more details). The hydrogen molecular ion in the case of clamped nuclei
can be completely worked out within a Computer algebra system. The fact that its solution is an
implicit function is revealing in itself. One of the successes of theoretical physics is not simply a
matter that it is amenable to a mathematical treatment but that the algebraic equations involved
can be symbolically manipulated until an analytical solution, preferably a closed form solution,
is isolated. This type of solution for a special case of the three-body problem shows us the
possibilities of what is possible as an anaytical solution for the quantum three-body and many-
body problem.
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rn exhaustive analysis of the soluble generalizations of Euler's three-body problem was carried
out by rdam Hiltebeitel in 1911. The simplest generalization of Euler's three-body problem is to
augment the inverse-square force laws with a force that increases linearly with distance. The next
generalization is to add a third center of force midway between the original two centers, that
exerts only a linear force. The final set of generalizations is to add two fixed centers of force at
positions that are imaginary numbers, with forces that are both linear and inverse-square laws,
together with a force parallel to the axis of imaginary centers and varying as the inverse cube of
the distance to that axis.
The solution to the original Euler problem is an approximate solution for the motion of a particle
in the gravitational field of a prolate body, i.e., a sphere that has been elongated in one direction,
such as a cigar shape. The corresponding approximate solution for a particle moving in the field
of an oblate spheroid (a sphere squashed in one direction) is obtained by making the positions of
the two centers of force into imaginary numbers. The oblate spheroid solution is astronomically
more important, since most planets, stars and galaxies are approximately oblate spheroids;
prolate spheroids are very rare.
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In the original Euler problem, the two centers of force acting on the particle are assumed to be
fixed in space; let these centers be located along the -axis at ±. The particle is likewise
assumed to be confined to a fixed plane containing the two centers of force. The potential energy
of the particle in the field of these centers is given by
where the proportionality constants ȝ1 and ȝ2 may be positive or negative. The two centers of
attraction can be considered as the foci of a set of ellipses. If either center were absent, the
particle would move on one of these ellipses, as a solution of the Kepler problem. Therefore,
according to Bonnet's theorem, the same ellipses are the solutions for the Euler problem.
This is a Liouville dynamical system if ȟ and Ș are taken as ij1 and ij2, respectively; thus, the
function equals
and the function º equals
Using the general solution for a Liouville dynamical system,[16] one obtains
Since these are elliptic integrals, the coordinates ȟ and Ș can be expressed as elliptic functions of
.