{"title":"Effects of general relativistic post-Newtonian approximations on the configuration space properties of elliptical orbital trajectories","authors":"Prasenjit Bose","doi":"10.1119/5.0159075","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Post-Newtonian approximations have been successful in describing various astronomical phenomena that classical Newtonian gravity could not. One such phenomenon is the precession of the periapsis of elliptical orbits. Einstein originally solved the problem in 1916 and since then others have been applying the technique to numerous complex systems. However, not much attention has been given to studying the changes in the configuration space when switching from Newtonian to post-Newtonian mechanics. Here, we compare the sizes and topologies of the configuration spaces of both these approaches and further explore the likelihood of planetary collisions in other star systems when configuration space expansion due to general relativity is taken into account.","PeriodicalId":7589,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Physics","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0159075","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Post-Newtonian approximations have been successful in describing various astronomical phenomena that classical Newtonian gravity could not. One such phenomenon is the precession of the periapsis of elliptical orbits. Einstein originally solved the problem in 1916 and since then others have been applying the technique to numerous complex systems. However, not much attention has been given to studying the changes in the configuration space when switching from Newtonian to post-Newtonian mechanics. Here, we compare the sizes and topologies of the configuration spaces of both these approaches and further explore the likelihood of planetary collisions in other star systems when configuration space expansion due to general relativity is taken into account.
期刊介绍:
The mission of the American Journal of Physics (AJP) is to publish articles on the educational and cultural aspects of physics that are useful, interesting, and accessible to a diverse audience of physics students, educators, and researchers. Our audience generally reads outside their specialties to broaden their understanding of physics and to expand and enhance their pedagogical toolkits at the undergraduate and graduate levels.