Revisiting the Kepler problem with linear drag using the blowup method and normal form theory

Abstract

In this paper, we revisit the Kepler problem with linear drag. With dissipation, the energy and the angular momentum are both decreasing, but in Margheri et al (2017 Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron. 127 35–48) it was shown that the eccentricity vector has a well-defined limit in the case of linear drag. This limiting eccentricity vector defines a conserved quantity, and in the present paper, we prove that the corresponding invariant sets are smooth manifolds. These results rely on normal form theory and a blowup transformation, which reveals that the invariant manifolds are (nonhyperbolic) stable sets of (limiting) periodic orbits. Moreover, we identify a separate invariant manifold which corresponds to a zero limiting eccentricity vector. This manifold is obtained as a generalized center manifold over the zero eigenspace of a zero-Hopf point. Finally, we present a detailed blowup analysis, which provides a geometric picture of the dynamics. We believe that our approach and results will have general interest in problems with blowup dynamics, including the Kepler problem with generalized nonlinear drag.