arXiv subjects

Vivina Barutello

Publications and source records attributed to Vivina Barutello.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Equivariant optimisation for the gravitational $n$-body problem: a computational factory of symmetric orbits

In this paper we present \texttt{SymOrb.jl}, a software which combines group representation theory and variational methods to provide numerical solutions of singular dynamical systems of paramount relevance in Celestial Mechanics and other interacting particles models. Among all, it prepares for large-scale search of symmetric periodic orbits for the classical $n$-body problem and their classification, paving the way towards a computational validation of Poincaré conjecture about the density of periodic orbits. Through the accessible language of Julia, \texttt{SymOrb.jl} offers a unified implementation of an earlier version. This paper provides theoretical and practical guidelines for the specific approach we adopt, complemented with examples.

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arXiv2021

Symbolic dynamics for the anisotropic $N$-centre problem at negative energies

The planar $N$-centre problem describes the motion of a particle moving in the plane under the action of the force fields of $N$ fixed attractive centres: \[ \ddot{x}(t)=\sum_{j=1}^N\nabla V_j(x-c_j). \] In this paper we prove symbolic dynamics at slightly negative energy for an $N$-centre problem where the potentials $V_j$ are positive, anisotropic and homogeneous of degree $-α_j$: \[ V_j(x)=|x|^{-α_j}V_j\left(\frac{x}{|x|}\right). \] The proof is based on a broken geodesics argument and trajectories are extremals of the Maupertuis' functional. Compared with the classical $N$-centre problem with Kepler potentials, a major difficulty arises from the lack of a regularization of the singularities. We will consider both the collisional dynamics and the non collision one. Symbols describe geometric and topological features of the associated trajectory.

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arXiv2020

Regularized variational principles for the perturbed Kepler problem

The goal of the paper is to develop a method that will combine the use of variational techniques with regularization methods in order to study existence and multiplicity results for the periodic and the Dirichlet problem associated to the perturbed Kepler system \[ \ddot x = -\frac{x}{|x|^3} + p(t), \quad x \in \mathbb{R}^d, \] where $d\geq 1$, and $p:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}^d$ is smooth and $T$-periodic, $T>0$. The existence of critical points for the action functional associated to the problem is proved via a non-local change of variables inspired by Levi-Civita and Kustaanheimo-Stiefel techniques. As an application we will prove that the perturbed Kepler problem has infinitely many generalized $T$-periodic solutions for $d=2$ and $d=3$, without any symmetry assumptions on $p$.

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arXiv2020

Minimal collision arcs asymptotic to central configurations

We are concerned with the analysis of finite time collision trajectories for a class of singular anisotropic homogeneous potentials of degree $-α$, with $α\in(0,2)$ and their lower order perturbations. It is well known that, under reasonable generic assumptions, the asymptotic normalized configuration converges to a central configuration. Using McGehee coordinates, the flow can be extended to the collision manifold having central configurations as stationary points, endowed with their stable and unstable manifolds. We focus on the case when the asymptotic central configuration is a global minimizer of the potential on the sphere: our main goal is to show that, in a rather general setting, the local stable manifold coincides with that of the initial data of minimal collision arcs. This characterisation may be extremely useful in building complex trajectories with a broken geodesic method. The proof takes advantage of the generalised Sundman's monotonicity formula.

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arXiv2019

On the minimality of Keplerian arcs with fixed negative energy

We revisit a classical result by Jacobi on the local minimality, as critical points of the corresponding energy functional, of fixed-energy solutions of the Kepler equation joining two distinct points with the same distance from the origin. Our proof relies on the Morse index theorem, together with a characterization of the conjugate points as points of geodesic bifurcation.

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arXiv2015

Morse index and linear stability of the Lagrangian circular orbit in a three-body-type problem via index theory

It is well known that the linear stability of the Lagrangian elliptic solutions in the classical planar three-body problem depends on a mass parameter $β$ and on the eccentricity $e$ of the orbit. We consider only the circular case ($e = 0$) but under the action of a broader family of singular potentials: $α$-homogeneous potentials, for $α\in (0,2)$, and the logarithmic one. It turns out indeed that the Lagrangian circular orbit persists also in this more general setting. We discover a region of linear stability expressed in terms of the homogeneity parameter $α$ and the mass parameter $β$, then we compute the Morse index of this orbit and of its iterates and we find that the boundary of the stability region is the envelope of a family of curves on which the Morse indices of the iterates jump. In order to conduct our analysis we rely on a Maslov-type index theory devised and developed by Y.~Long, X.~Hu and S.~Sun; a key role is played by an appropriate index theorem and by some precise computations of suitable Maslov-type indices.

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arXiv2014

Positive solutions with a complex behavior for superlinear indefinite ODEs on the real line

We show the existence of infinitely many positive solutions, defined on the real line, for the nonlinear scalar ODE \[ \ddot u + (a^+(t) - μa^-(t)) u^3 = 0, \] where $a$ is a periodic, sign-changing function, and the parameter $μ>0$ is large. Such solutions are characterized by the fact of being either small or large in each interval of positivity of $a$. In this way, we find periodic solutions, having minimal period arbitrarily large, and bounded non-periodic solutions, exhibiting a complex behavior. The proof is variational, exploiting suitable natural constraints of Nehari type.

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arXiv2014

Linear instability of relative equilibria for $n$-body problems in the plane

Following Smale, we study simple symmetric mechanical systems of $n$ point particles in the plane. In particular, we address the question of the linear and spectral stability properties of relative equilibria, which are special solutions of the equations of motion. Our main result is a sufficient condition to detect spectral (hence linear) instability. Namely, we prove that if the Morse index of an equilibrium point with even nullity is odd, then the associated relative equilibrium is spectrally unstable. The proof is based on some refined formulæ for computing the spectral flow. As a notable application of our theorem, we examine two important classes of singular potentials: the $α$-homogeneous one, with $α\in (0, 2)$, which includes the gravitational case, and the logarithmic one. We also establish, for the $α$-homogeneous potential, an inequality which is useful to test the spectral instability of the associated relative equilibrium.

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arXiv2011

On the One-Dimentional Pompeiu Problem

We investigate the Pompeiu property for subsets of the real line, under no assumption of connectedness. In particular we focus our study on finite unions of bounded (disjoint) intervals, and we emphasize the different results corresponding to the cases where the function in question is supposed to have constant integral on all isometric images, or just on all the translation-images of the domain. While no set of the previous kind enjoys the Pompeiu property in the latter sense, we provide a necessary and sufficient condition in order a union of two intervals to have the Pompeiu property in the former sense, and we produce some examples to give an insight of the complexity of the problem for three-interval sets.

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arXiv2011

Entire minimal parabolic trajectories: the planar anisotropic Kepler problem

We continue the variational approach to parabolic trajectories introduced in our previous paper [5], which sees parabolic orbits as minimal phase transitions. We deepen and complete the analysis in the planar case for homogeneous singular potentials. We characterize all parabolic orbits connecting two minimal central configurations as free-time Morse minimizers (in a given homotopy class of paths). These may occur for at most one value of the homogeneity exponent. In addition, we link this threshold of existence of parabolic trajectories with the absence of collisions for all the minimizers of fixed-ends problems. Also the existence of action minimizing periodic trajectories with nontrivial homotopy type can be related with the same threshold.

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arXiv2011

Entire Parabolic Trajectories as Minimal Phase Transitions

For the class of anisotropic Kepler problems in $\RR^d\setminus\{0\}$ with homogeneous potentials, we seek parabolic trajectories having prescribed asymptotic directions at infinity and which, in addition, are Morse minimizing geodesics for the Jacobi metric. Such trajectories correspond to saddle heteroclinics on the collision manifold, are structurally unstable and appear only for a codimension-one submanifold of such potentials. We give them a variational characterization in terms of the behavior of the parameter-free minimizers of an associated obstacle problem. We then give a full characterization of such a codimension-one manifold of potentials and we show how to parameterize it with respect to the degree of homogeneity.

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arXiv2008

Symmetry groups of the planar 3-body problem and action--minimizing trajectories

We consider periodic and quasi-periodic solutions of the three-body problem with homogeneous potential from the point of view of the equivariant calculus of variations. First, we show that symmetry groups of the Lagrangian action functional can be reduced to groups in a finite explicitly given list, after a suitable change of coordinates. Then, we show that local symmetric minimizers are always collisionless, without any assumption on the group other than the fact that collisions are not forced by the group itself. Moreover, we describe some properties of the resulting symmetric collisionless minimizers (Lagrange, Euler, Hill-type orbits and Chenciner--Montgomery figure-eight).

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arXiv2007

A note on the radial solutions for the supercritical Henon equation

We prove the existence of a positive radial solution for the Hénon equation with arbitrary growth. The solution is found by means of a shooting method and turns out to be an increasing function of the radial variable. Some numerical experiments suggest the existence of many positive oscillating solutions.

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arXiv2007

On the singularities of generalized solutions to $n$--body type problems

The validity of Sundman-type asymptotic estimates for collision solutions is established for a wide class of dynamical systems with singular forces, including the classical $N$--body problems with Newtonian, quasi--homogeneous and logarithmic potentials. The solutions are meant in the generalized sense of Morse (locally --in space and time-- minimal trajectories with respect to compactly supported variations) and their uniform limits. The analysis includes the extension of the Von Zeipel's Theorem and the proof of isolatedness of collisions. Furthermore, such asymptotic analysis is applied to prove the absence of collisions for locally minimal trajectories.

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arXiv2006

Morse index properties of colliding solutions to the $N$-body problem

We study a singular Hamiltonian system with an $\al$-homogeneous potential that contains, as a particular case, the classical $N$--body problem. We introduce a variational Morse--like index for a class of collision solutions and, using the asymptotic estimates near collisions, we prove the non-minimality of some special classes of colliding trajectories under suitable spectral conditions provided $\al$ is sufficiently away from zero. We then prove some minimality results for small values of the parameter $\al$.

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arXiv2004

A bisection algorithm for the numerical Mountain Pass

We propose a constructive proof for the Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz Mountain Pass Theorem providing an algorithm, based on a bisection method, for its implementation. The efficiency of our algorithm, particularly suitable for problems in high dimensions, consists in the low number of flow lines to be computed for its convergence; for this reason it improves the one currently used and proposed by Y.S. Choi and P.J. McKenna.

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arXiv2003

Action minimizing orbits in the n-body problem with simple choreography constraint

In 1999 Chenciner and Montgomery found a remarkably simple choreographic motion for the planar 3-body problem (see \cite{CM}). In this solution 3 equal masses travel on a eight shaped planar curve; this orbit is obtained minimizing the action integral on the set of simple planar choreographies with some special symmetry constraints. In this work our aim is to study the problem of $n$ masses moving in $\RR^d$ under an attractive force generated by a potential of the kind $1/r^α$, $α>0$, with the only constraint to be a simple choreography: if $q_1(t),...,q_n(t)$ are the $n$ orbits then we impose the existence of $x \in H^1_{2 π}(\RR,\RR^d)$ such that $q_i(t)=x(t+(i-1) τ), i=1,...,n, t \in \RR, $ where $τ= 2π/ n$. In this setting, we first prove that for every $d,n \in \NN$ and $α>0$, the lagrangian action attains its absolute minimum on the planar circle. Next we deal with the problem in a rotating frame and we show a reacher phenomenology: indeed while for some values of the angular velocity minimizers are still circles, for others the minima of the action are not anymore rigid motions.

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