Marco Sansottera

Kolmogorov and Nekhoroshev theory for the problem of three bodies

We investigate the long time stability in Nekhoroshev’s sense for the Sun– Jupiter–Saturn problem in the framework of the problem of three bodies. Using computer algebra in order to perform huge perturbation expansions we show that the stability for a time comparable with the age of the universe is actually reached, but with some strong truncations on the perturbation expansion of the Hamiltonian at some stage. An improvement of such results is currently under investigation.

On the stability of the secular evolution of the planar Sun–Jupiter–Saturn–Uranus system

We investigate the long time stability of the Sun–Jupiter–Saturn–Uranus system by considering the planar, secular model. Our method may be considered as an extension of Lagrange’s theory for the secular motions. Indeed, concerning the planetary orbital revolutions, we improve the classical circular approximation by replacing it with a torus which is invariant up to order two in the masses; therefore, we investigate the stability of the elliptic equilibrium point of the secular system for small values of the eccentricities. For the initial data corresponding to a real set of astronomical observations, we find an estimated stability time of 107 years, which is not extremely smaller than the lifetime of the Solar System (∼5Gyr).

Secular dynamics of a planar model of the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus system; effective stability in the light of Kolmogorov and Nekhoroshev theories

We investigate the long-time stability of the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus system by considering a planar secular model, which can be regarded as a major refinement of the approach first introduced by Lagrange. Indeed, concerning the planetary orbital revolutions, we improve the classical circular approximation by replacing it with a solution that is invariant up to order two in the masses; therefore, we investigate the stability of the secular system for rather small values of the eccentricities. First, we explicitly construct a Kolmogorov normal form to find an invariant KAM torus which approximates very well the secular orbits. Finally, we adapt the approach that underlies the analytic part of Nekhoroshev’s theorem to show that there is a neighborhood of that torus for which the estimated stability time is larger than the lifetime of the Solar System. The size of such a neighborhood, compared with the uncertainties of the astronomical observations, is about ten times smaller.

Effective stability around the Cassini state in the spin-orbit problem

We investigate the long-time stability in the neighborhood of the Cassini state in the conservative spin-orbit problem. Starting with an expansion of the Hamiltonian in the canonical Andoyer-Delaunay variables, we construct a high-order Birkhoff normal form and give an estimate of the effective stability time in the Nekhoroshev sense. By extensively using algebraic manipulations on a computer, we explicitly apply our method to the rotation of Titan. We obtain physical bounds of Titan’s latitudinal and longitudinal librations, finding a stability time greatly exceeding the estimated age of the Universe. In addition, we study the dependence of the effective stability time on three relevant physical parameters: the orbital inclination,

Effective resonant stability of Mercury

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On the continuation of degenerate periodic orbits via normal form: full dimensional resonant tori

i, the mean precession of the ascending node of Titan orbit,

On the relativistic Lagrange-Laplace secular dynamics for extrasolar systems

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