Lagrangian relative equilibria for a gyrostat in the three-body problem: bifurcations and stability

Abstract

In this paper we consider the non-canonical Hamiltonian dynamics of a gyrostat in the frame of the three-body problem. Using geometric/mechanic methods we study the approximate dynamics of the truncated Legendre series representation of the potential of an arbitrary order. Working in the reduced problem, we study the existence of relative equilibria that we refer to as Lagrange type following the analogy with the standard techniques. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the linear stability of Lagrangian relative equilibria if the gyrostat morphology form is close to a sphere. Thus, we generalize the classical results on equilibria of the three-body problem and many results on them obtained by the classic approach for the case of rigid bodies.