Kepler Orbits in Pairs of Disks Settling in a Viscous Fluid.

Abstract

We show experimentally that a pair of disks settling at negligible Reynolds number (∼10^{-4}) displays two classes of bound periodic orbits, each with transitions to scattering states. We account for these dynamics, at leading far-field order, through an effective Hamiltonian in which gravitational driving endows orientation with the properties of momentum. This treatment is successfully compared against the measured properties of orbits and critical parameters of transitions between types of orbits. We demonstrate a precise correspondence with the Kepler problem of planetary motion for a wide range of initial conditions, find and account for a family of orbits with no Keplerian analog, and highlight the role of orientation as momentum in the many-disk problem.