Gravitational capture

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Dec 1979

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1979conph..20..585b&link_type=abstract

Contemporary Physics, vol. 20, Nov.-Dec. 1979, p. 585-591.

Physics

Astrodynamics, Capture Effect, Celestial Bodies, Gravitational Effects, Angular Momentum, Center Of Mass, Elastic Bodies, Elastic Deformation, Energy Transfer, Many Body Problem, Tides, Universe

Scientific paper

The time reversibility of dynamical forces implies that if gravitational capture is possible, then the expulsion of a body from capture is equally possible. In a simple 2-body system with neither dissipation nor spin-orbit coupling, capture is impossible due to the conservation laws of linear momentum, angular momentum, and energy; the only effect being a turning of the original motion through an angle. In the case of imperfectly elastic bodies, however, tidal friction causing an exchange of energy of rotation of one body with angular momentum of the other makes capture a possibility. At the same time, in a multibody system such as a cluster of stars, where the proximity of one star to another could cause a transfer of energy via a change in direction of the second star relative to the center of mass of the cluster, non-dissipative capture (or expulsion), or at least an enormous dwell time (before escape) for an entering star, can occur.

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