Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 1986
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986ap%26ss.124..217a&link_type=abstract
Astrophysics and Space Science (ISSN 0004-640X), vol. 124, no. 2, July 1986, p. 217-241.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
67
Astrodynamics, Celestial Mechanics, Escape, Orbit Decay, Stellar Orbits, Three Body Problem, Binary Stars, Mass Ratios, Orbital Lifetime, Systems Stability
Scientific paper
This article reviews numerical experiments on the three-body problem carried out at the Leningrad University Astronomical Observatory during the past 20 years. Most (about 95 percent) of the systems decay; the decay always occurs after a close triple approach of the components. In a system with unequal masses, the escaping body usually has the smallest mass. A small fraction (about 5 percent) of quasi-stable systems are formed if the angular momentum is nonzero. The qualitative evolution in three-dimensional cases is the same as for planar systems. Small changes in initial conditions sometimes lead to substantial differences in the final outcome. The decay of triple systems is a stochastic process similar to radioactive decay. The estimated mean lifetime is about 100 crossing times for equal-mass components, and decreases for increasing mass dispersion. A classification of the close triple approaches which lead to immediate escape is given for equal-mass systems as well as for selected sets of unequal components. Detailed studies of close triple approaches by computer simulations reveal that the early evolution is determined by the initial ratio of the interaction forces. The review concludes by discussing applications of the results to observational problems of stellar and extragalactic systems.
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