The development of man's understanding of planetary motions is the crown jewel of Newtonian mechanics. This book offers a concise but self-contained handbook-length treatment of this historically important topic for students at about the third-year-level of an undergraduate physics curriculum. After opening with a review of Kepler's three laws of planetary motion, it proceeds to analyze the general dynamics of 'central force' orbits in spherical coordinates, how elliptical orbits satisfy Newton's gravitational law, and how the geometry of ellipses relates to physical quantities, such as energy and momentum. Exercises are provided, and derivations are set up in such a way that readers can gain analytic practice by filling in the missing steps. A brief bibliography lists sources for readers who wish to pursue further study on their own.

Kepler's three laws of planetary motion were a stunning development in human intellectual history. This second edition is a concise, self-contained treatment of Kepler/Newton planetary orbits at the level of an advanced undergraduate physics student. New to this edition are elements such as a detailed derivation of Newton's shell-point equivalency theorem, a revised derivation of the polar equation for an ellipse, Kepler's third law for non-inverse-square central potentials, a chapter on transfer and rendezvous orbits, and an expanded treatment of methods of calculating the average distance between the Sun and a planet. The approach is student-friendly, featuring brief sections, clear notation and diagrams, and mathematics that undergraduates will be comfortable with, accompanied by numerous exercises.

This monograph explores the dynamics in the particular but very important and significant case of quasi-integrable Hamiltonian systems, or integrable systems slightly perturbed by other forces. With both analytic and numerical methods, the book studies several of these systems - such as the hydrogen atom and the solar system, with the associated Arnold web - through modern tools such as the frequency-modified Fourier transform, wavelets, and the frequency-modulation indicator. Meanwhile, it draws heavily on the more standard KAM and Nekhoroshev theorems. Geography of Order and Chaos in Mechanics contains many figures that illuminate its concepts in novel ways, but perhaps its most useful feature is its inclusion of software to reproduce the various numerical experiments. The graphical user interfaces of five supplied MATLAB programs allows readers without any knowledge of computer programming to visualize and experiment with the distribution of order, chaos and resonances in various Hamiltonian systems. This monograph will be a valuable resource for professional researchers and certain advanced undergraduate students in mathematics and physics, as well as an exceptional reference for PhD students with an interest in perturbation theory. The Second Edition includes a new chapter on theoretical and numerical results in the study of the solar system's (in)stability obtained since publication of the First Edition, clarifying the topological mechanism that causes the sudden increase in Mercury's eccentricity. An updated version of the companion software is also provided, which contains new features and better Graphical User Interfaces. Thanks to the compiled versions, all the software can be used even if the user does not have access to a MATLAB installation.

Vols. for 1903- include Proceedings of the American Physical Society.

This book presents new insights into Leibniz’s research on planetary theory and his system of pre-established harmony. Although some aspects of this theory have been explored in the literature, others are less well known. In particular, the book offers new contributions on the connection between the planetary theory and the theory of gravitation. It also provides an in-depth discussion of Kepler’s influence on Leibniz’s planetary theory and more generally, on Leibniz’s concept of pre-established harmony. Three initial chapters presenting the mathematical and physical details of Leibniz’s works provide a frame of reference. The book then goes on to discuss research on Leibniz’s conception of gravity and the connection between Leibniz and Kepler.