LAGRANGIAN FOR THE TWO-BODY PROBLEM

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Post date: 17 September 2021.
A fundamental problem in classical physics is the two-body problem, in
which two masses interact via a potential V (r1 − r2 ) that depends only on
the relative positions of the two masses. In such a case, the Lagrangian can
be decoupled so that the problem gets reduced to a one-body problem.
The Euler-Lagrange equations are

d ∂L ∂L
− =0 (1)
dt ∂ q̇i ∂qi

where qi and q˙i are the generalized coordinates and velocities, respectively.
For systems where the potential energy V (qi ) is independent of the veloci-
ties q̇i , the Lagrangian can be written as

L = T −V (2)

where T is the kinetic energy. In terms of the absolute positions and veloc-
ities, we have

1 1
L = m1 |ṙ1 |2 + m2 |ṙ2 |2 − V (r1 − r2 ) (3)
2 2

To decouple this equation, we define two new position vectors:

r ≡ r1 − r2 (4)
m1 r1 + m2 r2
rCM ≡ (5)
m1 + m2

Here r is the relative position, and rCM is the position of the centre of mass.
We can invert these equations to get
1
 LAGRANGIAN FOR THE TWO-BODY PROBLEM 2

r1 = r + r2 (6)
(m1 + m2 ) rCM = m1 r + (m1 + m2 ) r2 (7)
m1
r2 = rCM − r (8)
m1 + m2
m2
r1 = rCM − r (9)
m1 + m2
To decouple the Lagrangian, we insert these last two equations into 3.
   
2 m2 m2
m1 |ṙ1 | = m1 ṙCM − ṙ · ṙCM − ṙ
m1 + m2 m1 + m2
(10)
 2
2 m1 m2 m2
= m1 |ṙCM | − 2 ṙCM · ṙ + m1 |ṙ|2
m1 + m2 m1 + m2
(11)
   
m1 m1
m2 |ṙ2 |2 = m2 ṙCM + ṙ · ṙCM + ṙ
m1 + m2 m1 + m2
(12)
 2
2 m1 m2 m1
= m2 |ṙCM | + 2 ṙCM · ṙ + m2 |ṙ|2
m1 + m2 m1 + m2
(13)
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 m1 m22 + m2 m21 2
m1 |ṙ1 | + m2 |ṙ2 | = (m1 + m2 ) |ṙCM | + |ṙ|
2 2 2 2 (m1 + m2 )2
(14)
1 1 m1 m2
= (m1 + m2 ) |ṙCM |2 + |ṙ|2 (15)
2 2 m1 + m2
The Lagrangian 3 thus becomes

1 1 m1 m2
L= (m1 + m2 ) |ṙCM |2 + |ṙ|2 − V (r) (16)
2 2 m1 + m2
≡ LCM + Lr (17)
with

1
LCM ≡ (m1 + m2 ) |ṙCM |2 (18)
2
1 m1 m2
Lr ≡ |ṙ|2 − V (r) (19)
2 m1 + m2
 LAGRANGIAN FOR THE TWO-BODY PROBLEM 3

Thus L decouples into two Lagrangians, one of which depends only on

ṙCM and the other of which depends only on r and ṙ. The absence of rCM
means that, from 1

d ∂L d ∂LCM m1 + m2 dṙi,CM
= = =0 (20)
dt ∂ ṙi,CM dt ∂ ṙi,CM 2 dt
ṙi,CM = constant (21)
which is separately true for each component of ṙCM , which shows that the
velocity of the centre of mass is a constant, as we’d expect for an isolated
two-body system with no external force.
From the other Lagrangian, we get
m1 m2
r̈ = −∇V (r) (22)
m1 + m2
which is the equation of motion of a single particle of mass mm11+m
m2
2
, called
the reduced mass. Viewed from the centre of mass frame, where ṙCM = 0,
r becomes the absolute position of the reduced mass. We can transform the
result back to the ’absolute’ frame by using 4.
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