This third edition text provides expanded material on the restricted three body problem and celestial mechanics. With each chapter containing new content, readers are provided with new material on reduction, orbifolds, and the regularization of the Kepler problem, all of which are provided with applications. The previous editions grew out of graduate level courses in mathematics, engineering, and physics given at several different universities. The courses took students who had some background in differential equations and lead them through a systematic grounding in the theory of Hamiltonian mechanics from a dynamical systems point of view. This text provides a mathematical structure of celestial mechanics ideal for beginners, and will be useful to graduate students and researchers alike. Reviews of the second edition: "The primary subject here is the basic theory of Hamiltonian differential equations studied from the perspective of differential dynamical systems. The N-body problem is used as the primary example of a Hamiltonian system, a touchstone for the theory as the authors develop it. This book is intended to support a first course at the graduate level for mathematics and engineering students. ... It is a well-organized and accessible introduction to the subject ... . This is an attractive book ... ." (William J. Satzer, The Mathematical Association of America, March, 2009) “The second edition of this text infuses new mathematical substance and relevance into an already modern classic ... and is sure to excite future generations of readers. ... This outstanding book can be used not only as an introductory course at the graduate level in mathematics, but also as course material for engineering graduate students. ... it is an elegant and invaluable reference for mathematicians and scientists with an interest in classical and celestial mechanics, astrodynamics, physics, biology, and related fields.” (Marian Gidea, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2010 d)

The fourth chapter analyzes collisions, while the last chapter discusses the likelihood of collisions and other events."--Jacket.

This book discusses in detail all the relevant numerical methods for the classical N-body problem. It demonstrates how to develop clear and elegant algorithms for models of gravitational systems, and explains the fundamental mathematical tools needed to describe the dynamics of a large number of mutually attractive particles. Particular attention is given to the techniques needed to model astrophysical phenomena such as close encounters and the dynamics of black hole binaries. The author reviews relevant work in the field and covers applications to the problems of planetary formation and star cluster dynamics, both of Pleiades type and globular clusters. Self-contained and pedagogical, this book is suitable for graduate students and researchers in theoretical physics, astronomy and cosmology.

In the end, the zombie apocalypse was nothing more than a waste disposal problem. Burn them in giant ovens? Bad optics. Bury them in landfill sites? The first attempt created acres of twitching, roiling mud. The acceptable answer is to jettison the millions of immortal automatons into orbit. Soon earth's near space is a mesh of bodies interfering with the sunlight and having an effect on our minds that we never saw coming. Aggressive hypochondria, rampant depressive disorders, irresistible suicidal thought--resulting in teenage suicide cults, who want nothing more than to orbit the earth as living dead. Life on earth has slowly become not worth living. And death is no longer an escape. Praise for The n-Body Problem Horror can be a hard thing to recommend. What might be standard fare for one reader is far beyond the boundaries of another, and The n-Body Problem gleefully probes and pulls apart whatever comfort zones it encounters. With a fresh take on the undead genre and excellent execution--horror delivered with all the craft of literary fiction--the book is a finely wrought and exciting work, but one that has the capacity to disarm, disgust and profoundly distress. For a test of literary hard limits, and an exploration of the darker aspects of the human imagination, The n-Body Problem excels. Just as the post-cataclysmic world Burgess builds creates a crucible in which the human mind is melted down, the reading experience is similarly harrowing. It's a novel that's inflicted upon the reader. --National Post

The book serves as an introduction to holomorphic curves in symplectic manifolds, focusing on the case of four-dimensional symplectizations and symplectic cobordisms, and their applications to celestial mechanics. The authors study the restricted three-body problem using recent techniques coming from the theory of pseudo-holomorphic curves. The book starts with an introduction to relevant topics in symplectic topology and Hamiltonian dynamics before introducing some well-known systems from celestial mechanics, such as the Kepler problem and the restricted three-body problem. After an overview of different regularizations of these systems, the book continues with a discussion of periodic orbits and global surfaces of section for these and more general systems. The second half of the book is primarily dedicated to developing the theory of holomorphic curves - specifically the theory of fast finite energy planes - to elucidate the proofs of the existence results for global surfaces of section stated earlier. The book closes with a chapter summarizing the results of some numerical experiments related to finding periodic orbits and global surfaces of sections in the restricted three-body problem. This book is also part of the Virtual Series on Symplectic Geometry http://www.springer.com/series/16019

Here is an accurate and readable translation of a seminal article by Henri Poincaré that is a classic in the study of dynamical systems popularly called chaos theory. In an effort to understand the stability of orbits in the solar system, Poincaré applied a Hamiltonian formulation to the equations of planetary motion and studied these differential equations in the limited case of three bodies to arrive at properties of the equations’ solutions, such as orbital resonances and horseshoe orbits. Poincaré wrote for professional mathematicians and astronomers interested in celestial mechanics and differential equations. Contemporary historians of math or science and researchers in dynamical systems and planetary motion with an interest in the origin or history of their field will find his work fascinating.

Poincare's famous memoir on the three body problem arose from his entry in the competition celebrating the 60th birthday of King Oscar of Sweden and Norway. His essay won the prize and was set up in print as a paper in Acta Mathematica when it was found to contain a deep and critical error. In correcting this error Poincare discovered mathematical chaos, as is now clear from June Barrow-Green's pioneering study of a copy of the original memoir annotated by Poincare himself, recently discovered in the Institut Mittag-Leffler in Stockholm. Poincare and the Three Body Problem opens with a discussion of the development of the three body problem itself and Poincare's related earlier work. The book also contains intriguing insights into the contemporary European mathematical community revealed by the workings of the competition. After an account of the discovery of the error and a detailed comparative study of both the original memoir and its rewritten version, the book concludes with an account of the final memoir's reception, influence and impact, and an examination of Poincare's subsequent highly influential work in celestial mechanics.