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# On the Existence of Collisionless Equivariant Minimizers for the Classical 𝑛-body Problem

## 1 Introduction

The method of minimizing the Lagrangian action on a space of loops symmetric with respect to a well-chosen symmetry group has been used in some recent papers to find new interesting periodic orbits for the $`n`$-body problem . Such a variational approach has been extensively exploited in the last decades by several other authors. We refer the reader to the following articles and references therein: . This approach consists in seeking periodic trajectories as critical points of the action functional associated to a system of $`n`$ particles with masses $`m_i>0`$, interacting through a potential of homogeneous degree $`\alpha `$,

((1.1))
$$𝒜(x(t))=_0^T\left[\underset{i}{}\frac{1}{2}m_i|\dot{x}_i(t)|^2+\underset{i<j}{}\frac{m_im_j}{|x_i(t)x_j(t)|^\alpha }\right]𝑑t.$$

The main difficulties reside in the fact that the action functional is not coercive and that in principle critical points might be trajectories with collisions. Actually this can happen only when $`\alpha <2`$, since if $`\alpha 2`$ (strong force) the action on colliding trajectories is not finite . In the quoted papers  these problems are overcame by level estimates and an appropriate choice of a group of symmetries acting on the space of loops that penalizes the global cost of collisions. An alternative approach consists of trying to find local variations around a (supposed) colliding minimizer and it was used e.g. in . A major breakthrough in this direction is the recent Marchal sharp contribution  (see below remark (8.5)). Marchal introduced the idea of averaging on suitable sets of variations for the Keplerian potential $`\alpha =1`$ and for discs or spheres, so to prove that minimizers of the fixed-ends (Bolza) problem are free of interior collisions. The aim of the present paper is to go further in this direction and to give general conditions on the group action (the hypothesis of (4.1) and the *rotating circle property*) under which minimizers of the action exist and are collision-free. Compared to the existing literature, our results hold for all homogeneous potentials (not only for the Newtonian potential with $`\alpha =1`$), include many of the known symmetric orbits and allow to prove the existence of new families of collisionless periodic orbits. Also, another interesting feature of our approach is that these families can be found with suitable algebraic algorithms, which generate group actions having the rotating circle property. On the other hand, our results are not suitable to prove the existence of those orbits that are found as minimizers in classes of paths characterized by homotopy conditions or a mixture of symmetry and homotopy conditions (see ).

Let $`𝒳`$ denote the space of centered configurations (possibly with collisions) of $`n>2`$ point particles with masses $`m_1`$, $`m_2`$, …, $`m_n`$ in the Euclidean space $`^d`$ of dimension $`d2`$ (that is, $`𝒳`$ is the subspace of $`^{nd}`$ consisting of points $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_n)`$ with centered center of mass $`_{i=1}^nm_ix_i=0`$). Let $`𝕋=/T`$ denote the circle of length $`T=|𝕋|`$, embedded as $`𝕋^2`$.

By the loop space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ we mean the Sobolev space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=H^1(𝕋,𝒳)`$ (see section 2). Consider a finite group $`G`$, a $`2`$-dimensional orthogonal representation $`\tau :GO(2)`$, a $`d`$-dimensional orthogonal representation $`\rho :GO(d)`$ and a homomorphism $`\sigma :G\mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$ to the symmetric group on $`n`$ elements with the property that $`gG:\left(\sigma (g)(i)=jm_i=m_j\right).`$ Thus, if the action of $`G`$ on $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\}`$ is transitive, we will consider the problem of $`n`$ equal masses; otherwise there may be particles with different masses. Finally, consider the subspace $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ consisting of all loops $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with the property that

$$gG,t𝕋,i=1\mathrm{}n:\rho (g)x_{\sigma (g^1)(i)}(t)=x_i(\tau (g)t).$$

Let $`𝒜^G`$ denote the restriction of the action functional $`𝒜`$ to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$. As it is shown in section 3, the homomorphisms $`\rho `$, $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$ yield an action of $`G`$ on $`𝒳`$, $`𝕋`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ is the subspace of $`G`$-equivariant loops.

A first result is proposition (4.1): *The action functional $`𝒜^G`$ is coercive if and only if $`𝒳^G=0`$, where $`𝒳^G𝒳`$ is the subspace fixed by $`G`$*. This extends a previous coercivity result by Bessi and Coti–Zelati  and is the first step in the variational approach to the $`n`$-body problem: if $`\rho `$ and $`\tau `$ are chosen so that $`𝒳^G=0`$, then the minimum of $`𝒜^G`$ exists.

The next goal is to exclude the occurrence of collisions on minimizers by performing a throughout analysis of collision–ejection trajectories. This step requires the proof of asymptotic estimates (in the same spirit Sundman and Sperling estimates (see ) for partial collisions that make possible the application of the blow-up technique. This analysis allows us to reduce the general case to that of homotetic self-similar collision trajectories. Now a key estimate (8.4) comes into play: *it is more convenient (from the point of view of the integral of the potential on the time line) to replace one of the point particles with a homogeneous circle of same mass and fixed radius which is moving keeping its center in the position of the original particle*. This generalizes to every $`\alpha >0`$ Marchal’s result that *minimizers of the fixed-ends (Bolza) problem are free of interior collisions* (see corollary (10.6)). We recall that the case of binary and triple collisions was already treated in .

Finally, to prove that *equivariant* minimizers are free of collisions we need to match the averaging procedure with the action of the group $`G`$. To this end, we introduce a condition on the action of the group $`G`$, that we call rotating circle property (see definition (10.1) and (3.15)). Under such a condition of the $`G`$-action we will prove our main result (theorem (10.10)): all (local) minimizers of the action $`𝒜^G`$ on the space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ of equivariant loops are free of collision. A major step towards the proof consists in theorem (10.3): *a minimizer of the equivariant Bolza problem is free of collisions, provided the symmetry group acts with the rotating circle property*.

Most of the symmetry groups used in the quoted literature in fact enjoy the rotating circle property; otherwise it is usually possible to find another action, which has the same type of minimizers, that fulfills the requirements of theorem (10.10). In particular the following actions have the rotating circle property: the $`n`$-cyclic action of choreographies (see example (11.1)) and that of the eight-shaped orbit, for any odd number of bodies. A number of examples and generalizations of the known actions will be given in the last section 11. The classification of all actions with the rotating circle property goes beyond of the purpose of this paper and is the subject of a paper in preparation.

The article is organized as follows.

1. Introduction.
2. Preliminaries.
3. Symmetry constraints.
4. Coercivity and generalized solutions.
5. Isolated collisions.
6. Asymptotic estimates.
7. Blow-ups.
8. Averaging estimates.
9. The standard variation.
10. The rotating circle property and the main theorems.
11. Examples.

This work was partially supported by the MIUR project “Metodi Variazionali ed Equazioni Differenziali Nonlineari”. The first author would like to thank the Max–Planck–Institut für Mathematik (Bonn) where part of the work has been done. We would like to thank all the people that helped us with their suggestions and criticisms: K. Chen, A. Chenciner, L. Fontana, G. Molteni, R. Montgomery, G. Naldi and A. Venturelli.

## 2 Preliminaries

In this section we set some notation and describe preliminary results that will be needed later. Let $`V=^d`$ denote the Euclidean space of dimension $`d`$ and $`n2`$ an integer. Let $`0`$ denote the origin $`0^d`$. Let $`m_1\mathrm{}m_n`$ be $`n`$ positive real numbers. The configuration space $`𝒳`$ of $`n`$ point particles with masses $`m_i`$ respectively and center of mass in $`0`$ can be identified with the subspace of $`V^n`$ consisting of all points $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_n)V^n`$ such that $`_{i=1}^nm_ix_i=0`$. For each pair of indexes $`i,j\{1,\mathrm{},n\}`$ let $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{i,j}`$ denote the collision set of the $`i`$-th and $`j`$-th particles $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{i,j}=\{x𝒳|x_i=x_j\}`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Delta }=_{i,j}\mathrm{\Delta }_{i,j}`$ be the *collision set* in $`𝒳`$. The space of collision-free configurations $`𝒳\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is denoted by $`\widehat{𝒳}`$. Let $`𝐧`$ denote the set $`\{1,\mathrm{},n\}`$ of the first $`n`$ positive integers, i.e. the set of indexes for the particles. If $`𝐤𝐧`$ is a subset of the index set $`𝐧`$, let $`𝐤^{}`$ denote its complement in $`𝐧`$. Given two subsets $`𝐚,𝐛𝐧`$ with $`𝐚𝐛=\mathrm{}`$, let $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐚,𝐛}`$ be the union $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐚,𝐛}=_{i𝐚,j𝐛}\mathrm{\Delta }_{i,j}`$.

Let $`\alpha >0`$ be a given positive real number. We consider the *potential function* (the opposite of the potential energy) defined by

((2.1))
$$U(x)=\underset{i<j}{}\frac{m_im_j}{|x_ix_j|^\alpha }.$$

The kinetic energy is defined (on the tangent bundle of $`𝒳`$) by $`K=_{i=1}^n{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_i|\dot{x}_i|^2`$ and the Lagrangian is

((2.2))
$$L(x,\dot{x})=L=K+U=\underset{i}{}\frac{1}{2}m_i|\dot{x}_i|^2+\underset{i<j}{}\frac{m_im_j}{|x_ix_j|^\alpha }.$$

When replacing the inertial frame with the uniform rotating one the kinetic energy needs to be changed into the corresponding form

((2.3))
$$K=\underset{i}{}\frac{1}{2}m_i|\dot{x}_i+\mathrm{\Omega }x_i|^2,$$

where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a suitable linear map $`VV`$, which does not depend on $`t`$. For example, in dimension $`d=3`$ if the constant angular velocity is $`\omega `$ and the rotation axis is $`\omega `$, with $`|\omega |=\omega `$, we obtain $`\mathrm{\Omega }x_i=\omega \times x_i`$. Accordingly, the Lagrangian for the rotating frame is

((2.4))
$$L(x,\dot{x})=\underset{i}{}\frac{1}{2}m_i|\dot{x}_i+\mathrm{\Omega }x_i|^2+\underset{i<j}{}\frac{m_im_j}{|x_ix_j|^\alpha }.$$

Let $`𝕋^2`$ denote a circle in $`^2`$ of length $`T=|𝕋|`$. It can be identified with $`/T`$, where $`T`$ denotes the lattice generated by $`T`$. Moreover, let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=H^1(𝕋,𝒳)`$ be the Sobolev space of the $`L^2`$ loops $`𝕋𝒳`$ with $`L^2`$ derivative. It is a Hilbert space with scalar product

((2.5))
$$xy=_𝕋(x(t)y(t)+\dot{x}(t)\dot{y}(t))𝑑t.$$

The corresponding norm is denoted by $`x`$. An equivalent norm is given by

((2.6))
$$x^{}=\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}(_𝕋\dot{x}_i^2𝑑t+[x_i]^2)\right)^{\frac{1}{2}},$$

where $`[x]`$ is the average $`[x]=\frac{1}{T}_𝕋x𝑑t`$. The subspace of collision-free loops in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is denoted by $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and is defined by $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=H^1(𝕋,\widehat{𝒳})H^1(𝕋,𝒳)`$.

Given the Lagrangian $`L`$ of (2.2) or (2.4), the positive-defined function $`𝒜:\mathrm{\Lambda }\{\mathrm{}\}`$ defined by

((2.7))
$$𝒜(x)=_𝕋L(x(t),\dot{x}(t))𝑑t$$

for every loop $`x=x(t)`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is termed *action functional* (or the *Lagrangian action*).

The action functional $`𝒜`$ is of class $`C^1`$ on the subspace $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ consisting of collisionless loops. Hence critical points of $`𝒜`$ in $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ are $`T`$-periodic classical solutions (of class $`C^2`$) of the Newton equations

((2.8))
$$m_i\ddot{x}_i=\frac{U}{x_i}.$$

For $`x=x(t)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ let $`x^1\mathrm{\Delta }𝕋`$ denote the set of *collision times*. Our approach is to minimize $`𝒜`$ in some closed subsets of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and such minimizers are not necessarily in $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ since they can have collisions.

Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a subset of the index set $`𝐧`$. The *partial kinetic energy* $`K_𝐤`$ can be defined as

((2.9))
$$K_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{m_i}{2}|\dot{x}_i|^2$$

and in a similar way let the *partial potential function* $`U_𝐤`$ be defined by

((2.10))
$$U_𝐤=\underset{i,j𝐤,i<j}{}\frac{m_im_j}{|x_ix_j|^\alpha }.$$

For every $`𝐤𝐧`$ by homogeneity

((2.11))
$$\underset{i𝐤}{}x_i\frac{U_𝐤}{x_i}=\alpha U_𝐤.$$

Moreover, let $`U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$ be the sum

((2.12))
$$U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}=UU_𝐤U_𝐤^{},$$

which can be defined (and it is regular) for $`x\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$.

Given a subset $`𝐤𝐧`$ we define the *partial energy* by

((2.13))
$$E_𝐤=K_𝐤U_𝐤.$$

In the same way, let $`L_𝐤`$ denote the *partial Lagrangian* $`L_𝐤=K_𝐤+U_𝐤`$. This Lagrangian is considered as a function of $`t`$, once a path $`x(t)`$ is chosen. The (partial) Lagrangian operator will be denoted by $`_𝐤`$, and its value on the path $`q=(q_i)_{i𝐤}`$ simply by $`_𝐤(q)`$.

## 3 Symmetry constraints

Many interesting and well-known periodic orbits have a non-trivial symmetry group (Lagrange and Euler orbits, Chenciner-Montgomery eight, as well as choreographies): this idea is at the roots of our search of equivariant minimizers. We now introduce a general method of defining transformation groups on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Let $`G`$ be a finite group, acting on a space $`X`$. The space $`X`$ is then called *$`G`$-equivariant* space. We recall some standard notation on groups and equivariant spaces. If $`HG`$ is a subgroup of $`G`$, then $`G_x=\{gG|gx=x\}`$ is termed the *isotropy* group of $`x`$, or the *fixer* of $`x`$ in $`G`$. The space $`X^HX`$ consists of all points $`xX`$ which are fixed by $`H`$, that is, $`X^H=\{xX|G_xH\}`$. Given two $`G`$-equivariant spaces $`X`$ and $`Y`$, an *equivariant map* $`f:XY`$ is a map with the property that $`f(gx)=gf(x)`$ for every $`gG`$ and every $`xX`$. An equivariant map $`f`$ induces, by restriction to the spaces $`X^H`$ fixed by subgroups $`HG`$, maps $`f^H:X^HY^H`$. If $`HG`$ is a subgroup of $`G`$, its *normalizer* $`N_GH`$ is defined as $`N_GH=\{gG|H^g=H\}`$, for every $`HG`$ and every $`gG`$ the subgroup $`H^g`$ is defined as $`H^g=g^1Hg`$. The *Weyl group* $`W_GH`$ is defined by $`W_GH=N_GH/H`$. For every $`HG`$ the Weyl group $`W_GH`$ acts on $`X^H`$, and a $`G`$-equivariant map $`f:XY`$ between $`G`$-spaces induces by restriction a $`W_GH`$-equivariant map $`f^H:X^HY^H`$.

Consider a finite group $`G`$, a $`2`$-dimensional orthogonal representation $`\tau :GO(2)`$ of $`G`$ and a $`d`$-dimensional orthogonal representation $`\rho :GO(d)`$. By $`\tau `$ and $`\rho `$ we can let $`G`$ act on the time circle $`𝕋^2`$ and on the Euclidean space $`V`$, respectively. Moreover, if $`\sigma :G\mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$ is a given group homomorphism from $`G`$ to the symmetric group $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$ on $`n`$ elements, we can endow the set of indexes $`𝐧=\{1,\mathrm{},n\}`$ (of the masses) with a $`G`$-action. As stated in the introduction, we will consider only homomorphisms $`\sigma `$ with the property that

((3.1))
$$gG:\left(\sigma (g)(i)=jm_i=m_j\right).$$

Given $`\rho `$ as above and $`\sigma `$ with property (3.1), $`G`$ acts orthogonally on the configuration space $`𝒳`$ by

((3.2))
$$gG:g(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_n)=(\rho (g)x_{\sigma (g^1)(1)},\rho (g)x_{\sigma (g^1)(2)},\mathrm{},\rho (g)x_{\sigma (g^1)(n)}).$$

In short

$$i𝐧:\left(gx\right)_i=gx_{g^1i}.$$

As a representation over the reals, $`𝒳`$ is equivalent to the tensor product $`V_{}_0[𝐧]`$, where $`_0[𝐧]=[𝐧]1`$ is equal to the natural representation $`[𝐧]`$ minus the trivial representation.

Furthermore, given the representation $`\tau `$ and the action of $`G`$ on $`𝒳`$ by (3.2) we can consider the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ given by

((3.3))
$$gG,t𝕋,x\mathrm{\Lambda }:(gx)(t)=gx(g^1t).$$

The loops in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$, i.e. the loops fixed by $`G`$, are the equivariant loops $`𝕋𝒳`$, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a closed linear subspace. Let $`𝒜^G`$ denote the restriction of the action functional (2.7) to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$

((3.4))
$$𝒜^G:\mathrm{\Lambda }^G\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{}.$$

Since the action functional (2.7) is $`G`$-invariant (that is, $`𝒜(x)=𝒜(gx)`$ for every $`gG`$ and every $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) and the collision set $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is $`G`$-invariant in $`𝒳`$, the following proposition holds (the Palais principle of symmetric criticality).

###### (3.5)

A critical point of $`𝒜^G`$ in $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^G`$ is a critical point of $`𝒜`$ in $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$.

###### Proof.

See . ∎

Without loss of generality we can assume that

((3.6))
$$\mathrm{ker}\tau \mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma =1.$$

Otherwise, we can consider $`G^{}=G/(\mathrm{ker}\tau \mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma )`$ instead of $`G`$ and obtain $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G^{}=\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$. Moreover, we can assume that there exists no proper linear subspace $`V^{}V`$ such that

((3.7))
$$i𝐧,x\mathrm{\Lambda }^G,t𝕋:x_i(t)V^{}V,$$

and that there is no integer $`k\pm 1`$ such that

((3.8))
$$x\mathrm{\Lambda }^G:y\mathrm{\Lambda }|t𝕋:x(t)=y(kt).$$

In this case we say that the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is non *reducible*.

###### (3.9) Remark.

If $`\mathrm{ker}\tau \mathrm{ker}\sigma 1`$, then the action is reducible. In fact, if $`g\mathrm{ker}\tau \mathrm{ker}\sigma `$ and $`g1`$, then for every $`i𝐧`$, for every $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ and every $`t𝕋`$ the particle $`x_i(t)`$ belongs to the fixed subspace $`V^gV`$. Since by (3.6) $`g\mathrm{ker}\rho `$, $`V^g`$ is a proper subspace of $`V`$, and hence (3.7) holds.

###### (3.10) Remark.

Also if $`|\mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma |>2`$ the action is reducible. In fact, consider an element $`g\mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma `$ with $`g1`$. By (3.6) it needs to act non-trivially on $`𝕋`$. Since $`x(gt)=x(t)`$ for every $`t𝕋`$, if $`g`$ acts as a rotation, then (3.8) holds. Now, $`\mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma `$ can be embedded naturally in $`G/\mathrm{ker}\tau `$, which is a finite subgroup of $`O(2)`$. Hence if $`|\mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma |>2`$, there needs to exist at least an element $`g`$ acting as a rotation, so the claim is true. On the other hand, if $`|\mathrm{ker}\rho \mathrm{ker}\sigma |=2`$, the non-trivial element $`g`$ might act as a rotation or as a reflection in $`𝕋`$. In the first case again (3.8) holds, and hence the action is reducible, while in the second case not. If there is a reflection $`g`$ of $`𝕋`$ such that $`x(gt)=x(t)`$ for every $`t𝕋`$, then $`x(t)`$ is said a *brake orbit*.

For some choice of $`\tau `$, $`\rho `$ and $`\sigma `$, it can be that for every equivariant loop the set of collision times is not empty

((3.11))
$$x\mathrm{\Lambda }^G:x^1\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{},$$

that is,

$$\mathrm{}=\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^G\mathrm{\Lambda }^G.$$

If this happens, we say that the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is *bound to collisions*.

###### (3.12) Remark.

If $`\mathrm{ker}\tau \mathrm{ker}\rho 1`$, then it is easy to see that the action of $`G`$ is bound to collisions. Therefore, $`G`$ is a finite subgroup of $`O(2)\times O(d)`$. If $`d=2`$ this implies that $`G`$ is metabelian, since it is a subgroup of the direct product of two dihedral groups. If $`d=3`$, then $`G`$ is a finite extension of a finite metabelian group with a platonic group. Hence the only case in which $`G`$ is not solvable occurs when $`G`$ projects onto the icosahedral group $`A_5`$ in $`O(3)`$.

Moreover, by remark (3.9), it is possible to show that $`G`$ is a finite subgroup of $`O(2)\times \mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$.

Consider the normal subgroup $`\mathrm{ker}\tau G`$ and the quotient $`\overline{G}=G/\mathrm{ker}\tau `$. The Weyl group of $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ acts on the space $`𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$ by restricting the action of $`G`$ on $`𝒳`$, so that the natural inclusion $`𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }𝒳`$ induces an isomorphism of Hilbert spaces

((3.13))
By definition $`\overline{G}`$ acts effectively on $`𝕋`$, hence it is a dihedral group or a cyclic group.

###### (3.14) Definition.

If the group $`\overline{G}`$ acts trivially on the orientation of $`𝕋`$, then $`\overline{G}`$ is cyclic and we say that the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is of *cyclic type*.

If the group $`\overline{G}`$ consists of a single reflection on $`𝕋`$, then we say that action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is of *brake type*.

Otherwise, we say that the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is of *dihedral type* (and it is possible to show that $`\overline{G}`$ is a dihedral group).

###### (3.15) Definition.

The isotropy subgroups of the action of $`G`$ on $`𝕋`$ via $`\tau `$ are called *$`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups* of $`G`$.

###### (3.16) Remark.

Let $`l`$ be the number of distinct isotropy subgroups of $`\overline{G}`$, with respect to the action of $`\overline{G}`$ in $`𝕋`$, or, equivalently, the number of distinct $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups of $`G`$. If $`l=1`$, then the action is of cyclic type. The maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy group is the unique isotropy group, which coincides with $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$. If $`l=2`$, then the action is of brake type, and the $`𝕋`$-isotropy groups are the maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroup and $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$. If $`l3`$, then the action is of dihedral type, and the $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups are either maximal or $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$. This shows in particular that definition (3.14) is well-posed.

###### (3.17) Definition.

Let $`𝕀𝕋`$ be the closure of a *fundamental domain* for the action of $`\overline{G}=G/\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ on $`𝕋`$ defined as follows. If the action type is cyclic, let $`𝕀`$ be a closed interval connecting the time $`t=0`$ in $`𝕋`$ with its image $`zt`$ under a cyclic generator $`z`$ of $`\overline{G}`$. Thus in this case $`𝕀`$ can be chosen among infinitely many intervals. If the action type is brake or dihedral, then $`𝕀`$ is a closed interval with as boundary two distinct points of $`𝕋`$ with non-minimal isotropy subgroups in $`G`$ and with no other points in its interior having non-minimal isotropy. There are $`|\overline{G}|`$ such intervals.

Let $`H_0`$ and $`H_1`$ denote the isotropy subgroups of such consecutive points. If the action type is brake, it is easy to see that $`H_0=H_1=G`$; if the action type is dihedral, then $`H_0`$ and $`H_1`$ are distinct proper subgroups of $`G`$ (they can be conjugated or not). Furthermore, since

((3.18))
$$𝕋=\underset{\overline{g}\overline{G}}{}g𝕀$$

and the interiors of the terms in the sum are disjoint, the fundamental domain $`𝕀`$ is always an interval of length $`{\displaystyle \frac{T}{|\overline{G}|}}`$.

###### (3.19) Remark.

By remark (3.12) , if $`\mathrm{ker}\tau \mathrm{ker}\rho 1`$, then the action is bound to collisions. If the action is not of cyclic type and for some $`𝕋`$-isotropy group $`HG`$ the intersection $`H\mathrm{ker}\rho 1`$, then $`𝒳^H\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and hence the action is bound to collisions, since in this case at the time $`t𝕋^H\mathrm{}`$ the configuration $`x(t)`$ necessarily belongs to $`𝒳^H`$.

Furthermore, in principle it is possible that an action is bound to collisions even if $`H\mathrm{ker}\rho =1`$ for every $`𝕋`$-isotropy $`HG`$. If $`𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is not connected but $`(𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }\mathrm{\Delta })/_{\overline{G}}`$ is connected, then the action is bound to collisions, since necessarily any equivariant path pass through $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

## 4 Coercivity and generalized solutions

Existence of minimizers follows from coercivity of the functional $`𝒜^G`$: we now prove proposition (4.1), which gives a (necessary and sufficient) criterion to guarantee coercivity. Then, we will describe some important properties of minimizers (which *a priori* might have collisions). Let $`I=I(x)=_im_i|x_i|^2`$ denote the moment of inertia of a configuration $`x𝒳`$ with respect to the its center $`0`$. The action functional $`𝒜^G:\mathrm{\Lambda }^G\mathrm{}`$ of (2.7) is called *coercive* in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ if $`𝒜^G(x)`$ diverges to infinity as the $`H^1`$-norm $`x`$ goes to infinity in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$. This property is essential in the variational approach, since it guarantees –by classical arguments– the existence of minimizers (and hence of generalized solutions – see definition (4.6) below) of the restricted action functional $`𝒜^G`$. In this perspective proposition (4.1) gives a complete answer to the problem of finding symmetry constraints that yield a coercive functional $`𝒜^G`$.

Furthermore, even if it is a simple exercise in variational calculus, it is worth mentioning the important fact that minimizers of the action functional $`𝒜^G`$ are classical solutions of the Newton equations outside collision times (see remark (4.4)).

###### (4.1) Proposition.

The action functional $`𝒜^G`$ is coercive if and only if $`𝒳^G=0`$.

###### Proof.

For every $`gG`$, by changing variables,

$$_𝕋x(t)𝑑t=_𝕋x(gt)𝑑t=g_𝕋x(t)𝑑t,$$

therefore the average $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}_𝕋x(t)𝑑t`$ belongs to the fixed space $`𝒳^G`$. So, if $`𝒳^G=\{O\}`$, then for every $`i𝐧`$ the average

$$\frac{1}{T}_𝕋x_i(t)𝑑t=0$$

vanishes – for every loop in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$, and hence in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ the norm (2.6) is actually equivalent to the norm given by the square root of the integral of the kinetic energy, so that there is a constant $`c>0`$ such that

$$x<c(_𝕋m_i\dot{x}_i^2)^{1/2}.$$

Hence if $`𝒳^G=0`$ the Lagrangian action $`𝒜^G`$ is coercive: if a sequence $`x_n`$ is such that $`x_n\mathrm{}`$, then the integrals of the kinetic energy need to diverge to infinity, and hence $`𝒜^G(x_n)`$ diverges.

Conversely, assume $`u𝒳^G0`$. There is a loop $`x(t)\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ for $`𝒜^G`$ with finite action. If $`k0`$, the loop $`x+ku\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ has the property that $`𝒜^G(x+ku)<𝒜^G(x)`$. On the other hand $`|ku|\mathrm{}`$ as $`k\mathrm{}`$, and hence $`𝒜^G`$ is not coercive. ∎

Now consider an action of $`G`$ given by a choice of $`\tau ,\rho ,\sigma `$ with property (3.1). Consider a path $`x(t)`$ in $`𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$; up to a change of variables we can assume that $`x(t)`$ is defined in $`[0,1]`$. Given a $`C^1`$ real function $`\eta (t)`$ with support in $`[0,1]`$, a real $`ϵ0`$ and a subset $`𝐤𝐧`$, consider the variation $`\delta ^ϵ(t)`$ defined by

((4.2))
$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\delta _i^ϵ(t)=x_i(t+ϵ\eta (t))x_i(t)\hfill & \text{if }i𝐤\hfill \\ \delta _i^ϵ(t)=0\hfill & \text{if }i𝐤^{}\hfill \end{array}$$

###### (4.3)

For every $`C^1`$ real function $`\eta `$ with support in $`[0,1]`$ and for every subset $`𝐤𝐧`$ such that $`t[0,1]:x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$, the following equation holds.

$$𝒜(x+\delta ^ϵ)𝒜(x)=ϵ_0^1\left(E_𝐤\dot{\eta }+\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_𝐤}\dot{x}_𝐤\eta \right)𝑑t+o(ϵ)$$

###### Proof.

The Lagrangian can be decomposed as

$$L=K_𝐤+K_𝐤^{}+U_𝐤+U_𝐤^{}+U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}},$$

where the variation occurs only in the terms $`K_𝐤`$, $`U_𝐤`$ and $`U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$. Thus

$$𝒜(x+\delta ^ϵ)𝒜(x)=_0^1\mathrm{\Delta }L_𝐤𝑑t+_0^1\mathrm{\Delta }U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}𝑑t.$$

Now, the claim follows since

$`{\displaystyle _0^1}\mathrm{\Delta }L_𝐤𝑑t`$ $`={\displaystyle _0^1}\left((K_𝐤)(1+ϵ\dot{\eta })+{\displaystyle \frac{U_𝐤}{1+ϵ\dot{\eta }}}\right)𝑑t`$
$`=ϵ{\displaystyle _0^1}E_𝐤\dot{\eta }𝑑t+o(ϵ)`$
and

$$_0^1\mathrm{\Delta }U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}𝑑t=ϵ_0^1\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}\dot{x}_i\eta dt+o(ϵ).$$

The latter equation holds because $`U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$ is a $`C^2`$ function of $`x`$, since $`t:x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$. We refer the reader to  for further details in classical variational techniques. ∎

###### (4.4) Remark.

In particular, if $`𝐤=𝐧`$, lemma (4.3) and an argument similar to the proof of (3.5) implies that minimizers of the action functional $`𝒜^G`$ satisfy Euler-Lagrange equations outside the collision set, and hence outside collision times minimizers are classical solutions of the Newton equations (2.8).

###### (4.5) Definition.

We say that a path $`x(t):(T_0,T_1)𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$ (where $`T_0`$ or $`T_1`$ may be infinite) is a *local minimizer* if there is $`ϵ>0`$ such that for every variation $`\delta H^1(,𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau })`$ with compact support in $`[T_0,T_1]`$ and $`\delta <ϵ`$, $`𝒜(x+\delta )𝒜(x)`$. The path $`x(t)`$ is called a *minimizer* (once the domain $`[T_0,T_1]`$ is fixed) if for every $`\delta `$ with compact support $`𝒜(x+\delta )𝒜(x)`$.

###### (4.6) Definition.

A $`H^1`$ path $`x(t)`$ defined on an interval $`(T_0,T_1)`$ is called a *generalized solution* of the Newton equations (2.8) if $`x(t)`$ is a $`C^2`$ solution of (2.8) in $`(T_0,T_1)x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$, the Lagrangian action of $`x(t)`$ on $`(a,b)`$ is finite and the following property holds:

> For every subset $`𝐤𝐧`$ and every interval $`(t_0,t_1)(T_0,T_1)`$ such that $`t[t_0,t_1]:x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$, the partial energy $`E_𝐤`$ is a $`H^1`$ function of the time $`t`$ in $`[t_0,t_1]`$:
>
> ((4.7))
> $$t[t_0,t_1]:x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}E_𝐤H^1((t_0,t_1),𝒳).$$

###### (4.8) Remark.

Since $`x`$ is continuous, $`x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is closed, so that the definition is consistent. The hypothesis that the action is finite implies that $`x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$ has measure zero.

Furthermore, the definition describes the following property (which (local) minimizers of the Lagrangian action have – see later proposition (4.11)): if you consider a cluster $`𝐤𝐧`$ and an interval of time $`[t_0,t_1]`$ such that there are no collisions between particles in $`𝐤`$ and in its complementary cluster $`𝐤^{}`$ — that is, particles in $`𝐤`$ collide only with particles in $`𝐤`$ — then the partial energy $`E_𝐤`$ is $`H^1`$, and in particular is continuous. In general at collision times discontinuous energy transfers can occur inside colliding clusters, and this property describes the simple fact that transfers cannot occur between non-colliding clusters.

###### (4.9) Remark.

In  a path $`x(t)`$ defined on $`(T_0,T_1)`$ is called a weak solution of (2.8) if $`(T_0,T_1)x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is open and dense in $`(T_0,T_1)`$, $`x(t)`$ is a $`C^2`$ solution of (2.8) on $`(T_0,T_1)x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and the energy of the solution is constant, i.e. the function $`E`$ of (2.13) does not depend on $`t(T_0,T_1)x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$. By applying definition (4.6) with $`𝐤=𝐧`$, we obtain that a generalized solution is in particular a weak solution.

###### (4.10) Remark.

Assume that $`x(t)`$ is a generalized solution of (2.8) in $`(t_0,t_1)`$, and that $`𝐤𝐧`$ is a subset such that the particles in $`𝐤`$ do not collide in $`(t_0,t_1)`$. Then $`x_𝐤(t)`$ can be extended to a $`C^2`$ solution of the partial problem

$$i𝐤:m_i\ddot{x}_i=\frac{U}{x_i}.$$

Furthermore, given $`𝐤𝐧`$, let $`x_0`$ be the center of mass of the particles $`x_i`$ with $`i𝐤`$,

$$x_0=\frac{1}{m_0}\underset{i𝐤}{}m_ix_i,$$

where $`m_0=_{i𝐤}m_i`$. If $`x(t)`$ is a generalized solution such that for every $`t`$ the configuration $`x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$, then the trajectory of the center of mass $`x_0(t)`$ is a $`C^2`$ curve such that

$$m_0\ddot{x}_0=\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i},$$

since $`_{i𝐤}\frac{U_𝐤}{x_i}=0`$.

###### (4.11) Proposition.

If $`x:[T_0,T_1]𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$ is a local minimizer of the Lagrangian action $`𝒜`$, then $`x`$ is a generalized solution of (2.8). If collisions do not occur, then it is a classical solution.

###### Proof.

It is a classical result that $`x(t)`$ is $`C^2`$ outside the collision times (see remark (4.4)) and that the action $`𝒜`$ is finite. It is only left to prove property (4.7). Let $`[t_0,t_1][T_0,T_1]`$ be a finite interval and $`𝐤𝐧`$ a subset of the index set $`𝐧`$. By reparametrizing the time interval and rescaling the problem we can assume that $`[t_0,t_1]=[0,1]`$. So, we assume that for every $`t[0,1]`$ the configuration $`x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$. Then, since $`x`$ is a minimum for the function $`𝒜(x+\delta ^ϵ)`$ of $`ϵ`$ defined in (4.2), by lemma (4.3) for every choice of $`\eta `$,

$$_0^1\left(E_𝐤\dot{\eta }+\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}\dot{x}_i\eta \right)𝑑t=0.$$

Moreover, for every $`t`$ of its domain and every $`ϵ`$, $`\delta ^ϵ(t)𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$. Hence

$$E_𝐤(s)E_𝐤(0)=_0^s\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i(t)}\dot{x}_i(t)dt$$

Since for every $`i𝐤`$ the function $`\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}`$ is continuous in $`t`$, and therefore the product $`\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}\dot{x}_i`$ is in $`L^2((0,1),𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau })`$, the partial energy $`E_𝐤`$ is a continuous function of $`t`$. ∎

###### (4.12) Proposition.

If $`𝒳^G=0`$, then there exists at least a minimum of the Lagrangian action $`𝒜^G`$, which yields a generalized solution of (2.8) in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$.

###### Proof.

Proposition (4.1) implies that $`𝒜^G`$ is coercive and so by classical results the minimum $`x(t)`$ of $`𝒜^G`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ exists (see e.g. ). By proposition (4.11) it is possible to show that if $`x`$ is a local minimum for $`𝒜^G`$, since then its restriction $`x|𝕀`$ to the fundamental domain (see (3.17)) is a local minimizer, the restriction to a fundamental domain $`x(t)|𝕀`$ is a generalized solution. Therefore $`x`$ is a generalized solution in the times of non-minimal isotropy. To complete the proof, it is necessary to show that $`x(t)`$ is a generalized solution in $`𝕋`$, that is, that the partial energies $`E_𝐤`$ are continuous when passing times with maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy. These exist only if the action is not of cyclic type, since otherwise one can change the fundamental domain and apply again proposition (4.11). Hence assume that the action is not of cyclic type and (without loss of generality) that $`t_0=0𝕋`$ is a time with maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy. Let $`ϵ>0`$ be a small real number. Since $`x(t)`$ is a generalized solution in $`[0,ϵ]`$ and in $`[ϵ,0]`$ and $`E_𝐤(gt)=E_𝐤(t)`$ for every $`gG`$, we just need to show that there exists $`gG`$ such that $`g[ϵ,0]=[0,ϵ]`$. But this is a consequence of the fact that $`0`$ has maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy, and so there exists an element $`hG`$ that acts on $`𝕋`$ as a reflection around $`0`$. ∎

## 5 Isolated collisions

One can always assume a collision in a minimizer to be isolated (more generally, it holds for generalized solutions: see proposition (5.13) below). In this section we prove this property, after some background material, as a consequence of the Lagrange-Jacobi equalities for colliding clusters (5.11) (and the definig property of generalized solutions). We first define interior collisions, boundary collisions and locally minimal collisions (it is to be noted that under this definition locally minimal collisions are not necessarily collisions in trajectories that minimize the action; actually, nowhere in this section the minimality of the action is assumed).

###### (5.1) Definition.

A collision occurring at time $`t𝕋`$ is called *interior collision* if $`t`$ has principal isotropy type in $`𝕋`$ with respect to the action of $`G`$, i.e. if the isotropy group of $`t𝕋`$ with respect to the action of $`G`$ is minimal in $`G`$. Otherwise, it is termed *boundary collision*. It is easy to see that interior collisions belong to the interior of a fundamental domain $`𝕀𝕋`$ (see (3.17)), while boundary collisions belong to the boundary $`𝕀`$ for some choice of $`𝕀`$.

###### (5.2) Definition.

Let $`x(t)`$ be a path. A collision at time $`t_0`$ is termed *locally minimal* if there is a subset $`𝐤𝐧`$ such that $`i,j𝐤:x_i(t_0)=x_j(t_0)`$, $`x(t_0)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$, and there exists a neighborhood $`(t_0ϵ,t_0+ϵ)`$ of $`t_0`$ such that if $`t(t_0ϵ,t_0+ϵ)`$ is a collision time, then $`i,j𝐤:x_i(t)=x_j(t)`$. We say that the collision is a locally minimal collision *of type $`𝐤`$*. Furthermore, we say that $`t_0`$ is an isolated collision time for $`x_𝐤=(x_i)_{i𝐤}`$ if $`t_0`$ is an isolated point in $`x_𝐤^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$. In this case also the collision is termed *isolated*.

###### (5.3) Remark.

The notion of *locally minimal* refers to the number of bodies and not to the lagrangian action. Actually, the reason of this notation is the following: the poset $`𝒫`$ of partitions of $`𝐧`$ (with initial object $`\{\{1\},\{2\},\mathrm{},\{n\}\}`$ and final object $`\{𝐧\}`$, ordered by inclusion) can be given the topology whose closed sets are the intervals $`\{P𝒫|PA\}`$ for any partition $`A𝒫`$ of $`𝐧`$, and the map $`p`$, which sends the time $`t`$ to the collisions-partition $`p`$ given by the configuration $`x(t)`$, is continuous. Locally minimal collision times are just local minima of the map $`p`$. For example, the reader can consider the following example of non-locally minimal collision times: collisions 13, 24, 13, 24 …converging to collision 1234, or collisions 12 13 23 12 13 23 converging to the triple collision 123.

Let $`I_𝐤`$ denote the momentum of inertia with respect to the center of mass of the bodies in $`𝐤`$,

((5.4))
$$I_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i(x_ix_0)^2=\underset{i𝐤}{}m_iq_i,$$

where $`x_0`$ is given by $`x_0=_{i𝐤}m_ix_i/m_0`$, with $`m_0=_{i𝐤}m_i`$. All the bodies in $`𝐤`$ collide in $`x_0`$ if and only if $`I_𝐤=0`$.

###### (5.5)

Assume that $`x(t)`$ is a continuous curve, solution of (2.8) in $`[t_0,t_1]x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and such that $`x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$ for every $`t`$. Then a.e.

$$\frac{\ddot{I}_𝐤}{2}=2E_𝐤(t)+(2\alpha )U_𝐤(t)+R(t),$$

where there remainder $`R(t)`$ is a $`C^0`$ function in $`[t_0,t_1]`$.

###### Proof.

We obtain the following equalities, where the last holds by (2.11).

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\ddot{I}_𝐤=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_i(\dot{x}_i^2+x_i\ddot{x}_i)m_0\dot{x}_0^2m_0x_0\ddot{x}_0`$
$`=2K_𝐤+{\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}x_i{\displaystyle \frac{U}{x_i}}m_0\dot{x}_0^2m_0x_0\ddot{x}_0`$
$`=2K_𝐤\alpha U_𝐤+{\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}x_i{\displaystyle \frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}}m_0\dot{x}_0^2m_0x_0\ddot{x}_0.`$
Therefore

((5.6))
$$\frac{1}{2}\ddot{I}_𝐤=2E_𝐤+(2\alpha )U_𝐤+R,$$

where $`R=_{i𝐤}x_i\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}m_0\dot{x}_0^2m_0x_0\ddot{x}_0`$. The claim follows by the fact that $`x_0(t)`$ is a $`C^2`$ function (see remark (4.10)), $`x_i(t)`$ and $`\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}`$ are continuous, hence $`R`$ is continuous. ∎

###### (5.7) Remark.

It is possible to notice, deriving the expression of $`R(t)`$, that $`\dot{R}`$ is a linear combination of terms in $`\dot{x}_i`$, with continuous coefficients, and hence

((5.8))
$$\dot{R}(t)<cK^{1/2}+b.$$

for some constants $`c>0`$ and $`b`$.

Furthermore, since the derivative of the partial energy $`E_𝐤`$ is

((5.9))
$$\dot{E}_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}\dot{x}_i=\alpha \underset{i𝐤,j𝐤^{}}{}m_im_j\frac{(x_ix_j)\dot{x}_i}{|x_ix_j|^{2+\alpha }},$$

there is a constant $`c>0`$ such that

((5.10))
$$\dot{E}_𝐤<cK_𝐤^{1/2}.$$

###### (5.11) Corollary (Lagrange–Jacobi).

Assume that $`x(t)`$ is a continuous curve, solution of (2.8) in $`[t_0,t_1]x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$, such that $`x(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$ for every $`t`$. Then for some function $`C^0`$ continuous in $`[t_0,t_1]`$:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\ddot{I}_𝐤`$ $`=2E_𝐤+(2\alpha )U_𝐤+C^0`$
$`=(2\alpha )K_𝐤+\alpha E_𝐤+C^0.`$
###### (5.12) Corollary.

Let $`x(t)`$ be a generalized solution. Then any locally minimal collision for $`x(t)`$ is isolated.

###### Proof.

Assume that at the time $`t_0`$ a collision of type $`𝐤𝐧`$ occurs. Consider a neighborhood $`(t_0ϵ,t_0+ϵ)`$ of $`t_0`$. Without loss of generality we can assume that for every $`t`$ and $`i𝐤`$: $`x_i(t)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$. Thus the function $`I_𝐤`$ defined in (5.4) is non-negative, $`C^2`$ where non-zero (since $`t_0`$ is a locally minimal collision time) and continuous. It is zero in the set (of measure zero) consisting of collisions of type $`𝐤`$. If $`t_0`$ is not isolated in $`x^1\mathrm{\Delta }`$, then necessarily there is a sequence of intervals $`(a_j,b_j)`$ such that $`I_𝐤(a_j)=I_𝐤(b_j)=0`$, $`a_j<b_j`$ and $`a_jt_0`$, $`b_jt_0`$. Thus there is a sequence $`t_jt_0`$ of points where $`\ddot{I}_𝐤(t_j)0`$ for every $`j`$. But by lemma (5.5) $`\frac{\ddot{I}_𝐤}{2}(t_j)2E_𝐤(t_j)+(\alpha 2)U_𝐤(t_j)`$ is continuous and hence bounded. Since $`E_𝐤`$ is $`H^1`$, this implies that $`\frac{1}{2}\ddot{I}_𝐤(t_j)+(\alpha 2)U_𝐤(t_j)`$ is bounded, which cannot be. Thus $`t_0`$ is isolated. ∎

###### (5.13) Proposition.

Let $`x`$ be a generalized solution of (2.8) such that $`x^1\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}`$. Then there exists an isolated collision.

###### Proof.

If in a time interval there are collisions, then there are locally minimal collisions. To complete the proof it suffices to apply a finite number of times corollary (5.12) or to argue by contradiction. ∎

###### (5.14) Remark.

An alternative proof of proposition (5.13) can be found also as Theorem 4.1.15 of  and as well in sec. 3 of  (for $`\alpha =1`$). The basic structure of all the proofs use the same ideas: approximate constancy of the energy of a cluster plus a cluster version of the Lagrange-Jacobi identity. In  proposition (5.13) is phrased as “if there is no subcluster collision in a neighborhood of $`t_0`$ then $`t_0`$ is isolated” and the idea of the proof is attributed there to R. Montgomery. It is clear by definition (5.2) that a locally minimal collision is a collision without subcluster collisions in a neighborhood. Since we consider the presentation in this section, besides being more general, simpler and more direct, we decided to include it for the reader’s convenience.

## 6 Asymptotic estimates

Different proofs of the asymptotic estimates for total or partial colliding clusters (in the case $`\alpha =1`$ or for total collisions) can be found in the literature , that extend and simplify the original Sundman estimates. As remarked already by Wintner , the Tauberian lemmata used in the proofs of , essentially concerning the regularity of the variation of the momentum function $`I`$, can be traced back to Sundman. In this section we extend and simplify Sperling asymptotic estimates for partial collisions  to every $`\alpha (0,2)`$ and we prove some other results necessary to introduce the blow-up technique. The main lemma that implies the estimates is the Tauberian lemma (6.1) (inspired by and generalizing §337 – §338, page 255–257, of ; lemma (6.1) replaces the various Tauberian lemmata used in the proof of ), which is a key step towards the more technical lemma (6.2)(6.2) studies for every $`\alpha `$ the properties of a Sundman function). In order to obtain asymptotic estimates for colliding clusters, it is necessary to prove first that the partial energies $`E_𝐤`$ are bounded in a neighborhood of a collision time. Our approach follows Sperling’s idea  of proving the boundedness as a consequence of the asymptotic behaviour of the total kinetic energy of the $`n`$ particles. Thus we can prove proposition (6.25), and some of its consequences: the limit set of a collision of type $`𝐤`$ is a central configuration of $`𝐤`$ bodies (6.32); moreover, in (6.35) it is proved that any converging sequence of normalized configurations in the collision trajectory yield a sequence of solutions converging to a blow-up solution $`\overline{q}`$.

###### (6.1)

Let $`\phi `$ be an integrable real function defined on the interval $`(0,ϵ)`$, $`ϵ>0`$, differentiable, such that

$$\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{1}{t}_0^t\phi =\eta $$

and such that there exists a continuous function $`A:`$ with the property that

$$t(0,ϵ):|\frac{d\phi }{dt}|<\frac{A(\phi )}{t}.$$

Then

$$\underset{t0}{lim}\phi (t)=\eta =\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{1}{t}_0^t\phi .$$

###### Proof.

Since $`lim\; inf\phi \eta lim\; sup\phi `$, we only need to show that the limit exists, i.e. that $`lim\; inf\phi =lim\; sup\phi `$. If, on the contrary, $`lim\; inf\phi <lim\; sup\phi `$, we can have two cases: either $`\eta <lim\; sup\phi `$ or $`\eta =lim\; sup\phi `$. In the first case, there exist $`l_1,l_2`$ such that $`lim\; inf\phi \eta <l_1<l_2<lim\; sup\phi `$ and a sequence $`[a_j,b_j]`$ of intervals in $`(0,ϵ)`$ such that $`a_j<b_j0`$ and $`\phi a_j=l_1`$, $`\phi b_j=l_2`$, $`t[a_j,b_j]\phi (t)[l_1,l_2]`$. The second case can be reduced to the first by taking $`\phi `$ in place of $`\phi `$. Since $`|\dot{\phi }(t)|<A(\phi )/t`$,

$$0<l_2l_1=_{a_j}^{b_j}\dot{\phi }<_{a_j}^{b_j}\frac{c}{t}=c\mathrm{log}\frac{b_j}{a_j},$$

where $`c>0`$ is a constant such that $`\phi [l_1,l_2]A(\phi )<c`$. Therefore for every $`j`$

$$\frac{b_j}{a_j}\gamma >1$$

where $`\gamma =e^{\frac{l_2l_1}{c}}>1`$ is constant. But on the other hand for every $`j`$

$$l_1(\frac{b_j}{a_j}1)<\frac{1}{a_j}_{a_j}^{b_j}\phi =\frac{1}{a_j}_0^{b_j}\phi \frac{1}{a_j}_0^{a_j}\phi ,$$

and therefore

$$\gamma (l_1\frac{1}{b_j}_0^{b_j}\phi )\frac{b_j}{a_j}(l_1\frac{1}{b_j}_0^{b_j}\phi )=\frac{b_j}{a_j}l_1\frac{1}{a_j}_0^{b_j}\phi l_1\frac{1}{a_j}_0^{a_j}\phi .$$

By taking limits, we obtain

$$\gamma (l_1\eta )(l_1\eta )l_1\eta $$

which contradicts the assumption that $`l_1>\eta `$. ∎

###### (6.2)

Let $`\phi (t)`$ be a function defined on $`(0,ϵ)`$, $`ϵ>0`$, with the following properties:

* There are constants $`a`$, $`b>2`$ and $`c`$ such that $`\dot{\phi }^2+a^2b\phi \ddot{\phi }+c\phi `$.
* $`t`$: $`\phi (t)0`$, $`\dot{\phi }(t)0`$.
* $`lim_{t0}\phi (t)=0`$.
* There is a constant $`d>0`$ such that $`t`$: $`\ddot{\phi }\phi ^{(b2)/b}(t)d>0`$.

Then, the following properties are true:

1. $`a^2=0`$.
2. There exists the positive limit $`lim_{t0}\dot{\phi }^2\phi ^{2/b}=\eta >0`$.
3. $`\phi (t)=(\sqrt{\eta }t)^{b/(b1)}+o(t^{b/(b1)})`$.
4. $`\dot{\phi }(t)=\sqrt{\eta }^{b/(b1)}t^{1/(b1)}+o(t^{1/(b1)})`$.

Moreover, if there is a constant $`e`$ such that $`|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|<e\ddot{\phi }^\gamma `$, with the exponent $`\gamma =\frac{2b3}{b2}`$, then

((6.3))
$$\ddot{\phi }(t)=\frac{\eta ^{b/2}}{b}\left(\frac{b1}{b}\eta ^{b/2}t\right)^{\frac{2b}{b1}}.$$

###### Proof.

Define $`\beta =2/b`$ and consider the following auxiliary function

$$Q(t)=\frac{c\beta }{1\beta }\phi ^{1\beta }+\phi ^\beta (\dot{\phi }^2+a^2).$$

Since $`b>2`$, $`\beta (0,1)`$ and thus $`\phi ^{1\beta }0`$, so that $`Q(t)`$ is bounded by below. Consider the derivative $`\dot{Q}(t)`$:

$$\dot{Q}(t)=\beta \phi ^\beta \dot{\phi }[c+\frac{2}{\beta }\ddot{\phi }\frac{\dot{\phi }^2+a^2}{\phi }.]$$

Since $`\beta >0`$, $`\dot{\phi }0`$ and by hypothesis the term in square brackets is non-negative, $`\dot{Q}(t)0`$ for every $`t`$ and hence $`Q(t)`$ is monotone and thus it has a limit

$$\eta =\underset{t0}{lim}Q(t).$$

This implies that $`a^2=0`$ and $`\phi ^\beta \dot{\phi }^2\eta `$ as $`t0`$, which means that

$$\underset{t0}{lim}\dot{\phi }^2\phi ^{2/b}=\eta .$$

Since there is a constant $`d>0`$ such that $`\ddot{\phi }\phi ^{(b2)/b}(t)d>0`$, we can write

$$\dot{\phi }^2=2_0^t\dot{\phi }\ddot{\phi }2d_0^t\dot{\phi }\phi ^{(2b)/b}=\frac{2bd}{2b}\phi ^{2/b},$$

and hence

$$\eta =\underset{t0}{lim}\dot{\phi }^2\phi ^{2/b}\frac{2bd}{2b}>0.$$

By integrating the equation

$$\dot{\phi }\phi ^{\beta /2}=\sqrt{\eta }+o(1)$$

we obtain

$$\phi ^{1\beta /2}=\frac{\sqrt{\eta }}{1\beta /2}t+o(t)\phi (t)=(\frac{\sqrt{\eta }}{1\beta /2}t)^{2/(2\beta )}+o(t^{2/(2\beta )})$$

$$\phi (t)=(\frac{b1}{b}\sqrt{\eta }t)^{b/(b1)}+o(t^{b/(b1)}),$$

$$\dot{\phi }=\phi ^{\beta /2}(\sqrt{\eta }+o(1))=\phi ^{1/b}(\sqrt{\eta }+o(1))=\sqrt{\eta }(\frac{b1}{b}\sqrt{\eta }t)^{1/(b1)}+o(t^{1/(b1)})$$

((6.4))
$$\dot{\phi }(t)=(\frac{b1}{b}\sqrt{\eta }^bt)^{1/(b1)}+o(t^{1/(b1)}).$$

Now, consider the non-negative function

$$F(t)=\dot{\phi }^{b1}.$$

By equation 4, $`F(t)/t=\frac{b1}{b}\eta ^{b/2}+o(1)`$, i.e.

((6.5))
$$\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{F(t)}{t}=\frac{b1}{b}\eta ^{b/2}.$$

Its first and second derivatives are

$$\dot{F}=(b1)\dot{\phi }^{b2}\ddot{\phi },$$

$$\ddot{F}=(b1)(b2)\dot{\phi }^{b3}\ddot{\phi }^2+(b1)\dot{\phi }^{b2}\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}.$$

Therefore

$$F\ddot{F}=c_1\dot{(}\dot{\phi }^{b2}\ddot{\phi })^2+c_2\dot{\phi }^{2b3}\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}$$

for some positive constants $`c_1,c_2`$, and hence, since $`|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|k\ddot{\phi }^{\frac{2b3}{b2}}`$, there are (other) constants $`c_1`$, $`c_2`$ such that

$$|F\ddot{F}|c_1\dot{F}^2+c_2\dot{F}^{\frac{2b3}{b2}},$$

hence there is a continuous function $`A:`$ such that for every $`t(0,ϵ)`$,

((6.6))
$$|\ddot{F}(t)|\frac{A(\dot{F}(t))}{t}.$$

Since $`F(t)/t=\frac{1}{t}_0^t\dot{F}`$, by equation (6.5) one obtains

$$\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{1}{t}_0^t\dot{F}=\frac{b1}{b}\eta ^{b/2}.$$

Now one can apply lemma (6.1) to the function $`\dot{F}`$, so to get

$$\frac{b1}{b}\eta ^{b/2}=\underset{t0}{lim}\dot{F}(t)=\underset{t0}{lim}(b1)\dot{\phi }^{b2}\ddot{\phi }$$

$$\ddot{\phi }=\frac{\eta ^{b/2}}{b}\left(\frac{b1}{b}\eta ^{b/2}t\right)^{\frac{b2}{b1}}.$$

This completes the proof. ∎

Now we consider a solution of the Newton equations (2.8) $`x(t)`$ defined in the time interval $`(0,ϵ)`$, without collisions in $`(0,ϵ)`$ and with an isolated collision in $`t=0`$. A *colliding cluster* of particles is a subset $`𝐤𝐧`$ such that $`x(0)\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤`$ and $`x(0)\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}`$. Let $`𝐤_0𝐧`$ be the subset of non-colliding particles. The colliding clusters yield a partition of $`𝐧𝐤_0`$ into subsets which we denote by $`𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\mathrm{},𝐤_l`$. Let $`𝐤`$ denote a generic colliding cluster.

As above, let $`x_0`$ denote the center of mass $`x_0=m_0^1_{i𝐤}m_ix_i`$, with $`m_0=_{i𝐤}m_i`$. Let $`c_𝐤`$ denote the angular momentum with respect to $`x_0`$

$$c_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i(x_ix_0)\times (\dot{x}_i\dot{x}_0).$$

For a collection $`𝐡`$ of clusters $`𝐤`$, let $`c_𝐡`$ denote the sum $`c_𝐡=_{𝐤𝐡}c_𝐤`$. Here it is necessary a word of warning about the notation: If $`𝐡`$ is the collections of the clusters $`𝐤_1`$, $`𝐤_2`$, …$`𝐤_l`$, then when we write that a sum ranges over $`𝐤𝐡`$ we mean that the index $`𝐤`$ assumes the values $`𝐤_1`$, $`𝐤_2`$, …, $`𝐤_l`$. Hence, for example, the sum $`_{𝐤𝐡}c_𝐤`$ means the sum of the angular momenta $`c_𝐤`$, as the cluster $`𝐤`$ ranges over the collection $`𝐡`$ of clusters.

###### (6.7)

$`\dot{c}_kI_𝐤^1`$ is bounded.

###### Proof.

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \dot{c}_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i(x_ix_0)\times (\ddot{x}_i\ddot{x}_0)=\\ \hfill \underset{i𝐤}{}m_i(x_ix_0)\times \ddot{x}_i=\underset{i𝐤}{}(x_ix_0)\times \frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}=\\ \hfill \underset{i𝐤,j𝐤^{}}{}(\alpha )m_im_j|x_ix_j|^{(2+\alpha )}(x_ix_0)\times (x_0x_j).\end{array}$$

Since $`|x_i(t)x_j(t)|^{\alpha 2}=|x_0(t)x_j(t)|^{\alpha 2}+k_{i,j}(t)|x_i(t)x_0(t)|`$ for a bounded function $`k_{i,j}(t)`$,

$$\dot{c}_𝐤=\alpha \underset{i𝐤,j𝐤^{}}{}m_im_jk_{i,j}|x_ix_0|(x_ix_0)\times (x_0x_j),$$

and hence $`\dot{c}_𝐤I_k^1`$ is bounded as claimed. ∎

For every $`i𝐤`$ let $`q_i=x_ix_0`$, $`\dot{q}_i=\dot{x}_i\dot{x}_0`$ and $`\ddot{q}_i=\ddot{x}_i\ddot{x}_0`$. We have the equalities

((6.8)) $`I_𝐤`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_iq_i^2`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\dot{I}_𝐤`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_iq_i\dot{q}_i`$
By Cauchy-Schwartz

((6.9)) $`({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\dot{I}_𝐤)^2=`$ $`({\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_iq_i\dot{q}_i)^2I_𝐤{\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_i{\displaystyle \frac{(q_i\dot{q}_i)}{q_i^2}}`$
$`c_𝐤^2=`$ $`({\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_iq_i\times \dot{q}_i)^2I_𝐤{\displaystyle \underset{i𝐤}{}}m_i{\displaystyle \frac{(q_i\times \dot{q}_i)}{q_i^2}}.`$
As a consequence of the identity $`(ab)^2+(a\times b)^2=a^2b^2`$ we obtain

((6.10))
$$\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤^2}{4}+c_𝐤^2I_𝐤\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{q}_i^2=I_𝐤(2K_𝐤m_0\dot{x}_0^2).$$

More generally, in the same way it is possible to show that for a collection of clusters $`𝐡`$

((6.11))
$$(\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤}{2})^2+c_𝐡^2(\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}I_𝐤)(2K_𝐤+b)$$

for a constant $`b`$. The sum $`_{𝐤𝐡}I_𝐤`$ is the sum of momenta $`I_𝐤`$ (each defined, as in (5.4), with respect to the center of mass of the cluster $`𝐤`$), for any cluster $`𝐤`$ in $`𝐡`$.

###### (6.12)

If $`_{𝐤𝐡}\dot{I}_𝐤0`$, then there is a constant $`b`$ such that

$$|c_𝐡^2(t)c_𝐡^2(0)|bt\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}I_𝐤(t).$$

###### Proof.

By (6.7), $`c_𝐤^2(t)`$ is bounded for every $`𝐤`$ and the limit $`c_𝐤^2(0)`$ exists. Moreover,

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill (\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}I_𝐤)^1|c_𝐡^2(t)c_𝐡^2(0)|\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}_0^t2|c_𝐤(\tau )||\frac{\dot{c}_𝐤(\tau )}{_𝐤I_𝐤(t)}|𝑑\tau \\ \hfill \underset{𝐤𝐡}{}_0^t2|c_𝐤(\tau )|\frac{|\dot{c}_𝐤(\tau )|}{_𝐤I_𝐤(\tau )}𝑑\tau .\end{array}$$

by Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and since $`\tau <t_𝐤I_𝐤(\tau )<_𝐤I_𝐤(t)`$ ($`_𝐤I_𝐤`$ is monotone increasing as a consequence of the hypothesis on $`_𝐤\dot{I}_𝐤`$). Thus there is a constant $`b`$ such that $`|c_𝐡^2(t)c_𝐡^2(0)|bt_{𝐤𝐡}I_𝐤(t)`$ as claimed. ∎

###### (6.13)

If $`_{𝐤𝐡}E_𝐤`$ is bounded then $`_{𝐤𝐡}\dot{I}_𝐤0`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\phi `$ denote the sum $`\phi =_{𝐤𝐡}\dot{I}_𝐤`$. By summing up the Lagrange-Jacobi identities (5.11) for every $`𝐤`$, we obtain the equalities

((6.14))
$$\ddot{\phi }=(2\alpha )\underset{𝐤}{}U_𝐤+B_1=(2\alpha )K_𝐡+B_2=(2\alpha )U_𝐡+B_3,$$

where $`B_1,B_2`$ and $`B_3`$ are suitable bounded functions. Thus $`lim_{t0}\ddot{\phi }=+\mathrm{}`$, hence $`\dot{\phi }`$ is strictly increasing and cannot be $`0`$ in $`(0,ϵ)`$ if $`ϵ`$ is sufficiently small, that is to say, $`\phi `$ is monotone in $`(0,ϵ)`$. Since $`\phi (0)=0`$ and $`\phi (t)0`$, this implies $`\dot{\phi }0`$. ∎

###### (6.15)

There are positive constants $`c_1`$ , $`c_2`$ and $`c_3`$ such that for every $`i𝐤`$

$$|\dot{q}_i|c_1K_𝐤^{1/2},|\ddot{q}_i|c_2U_𝐤^{(\alpha +1)/\alpha }\text{ and }|\frac{d^3q_i}{dt^3}|c_3K_𝐤^{1/2}U_𝐤^{(2+\alpha )/\alpha }.$$

###### Proof.

The first is trivial. For the others, it suffices to consider equation (2.8), and to derive it once. ∎

###### (6.16)

Assume that $`_{𝐤𝐡}E_𝐤`$ is bounded. Then there is a constant $`d`$ such that for every $`t(0,ϵ)`$: $`(_𝐤\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤}{2})^2+c_𝐡^2(0)(_𝐤I_𝐤)(_𝐤\frac{\ddot{I}_𝐤}{2\alpha }+d)`$.

###### Proof.

By equation (6.11), $`(_{𝐤𝐡}\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤}{2})^2+c_𝐡^2(_{𝐤𝐡}I_𝐤)(2K_𝐤+b)`$. As a consequence of the Lagrange-Jacobi formula (5.11) and the fact that $`_𝐤E_𝐤`$ is bounded, there is a constant $`d`$ such that

((6.17))
$$2K_𝐡\frac{_𝐤\ddot{I}_𝐤}{2\alpha }+d.$$

Furthermore, by (6.13) we can apply (6.12), so that there is a constant $`b`$ such that $`c_𝐡^2(t)c_𝐡^2(0)+b_𝐤I_𝐤(t)`$ and hence there is a constant $`d`$ such that

$$(\underset{𝐤}{}\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤}{2})^2+c_𝐡^2(0)(\underset{𝐤}{}\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤^2}{2})^2+c_𝐡^2(t)b\underset{𝐤}{}I_𝐤(t)(\underset{𝐤}{}I_𝐤)(\underset{𝐤}{}\frac{\ddot{I}_𝐤}{2\alpha }+d).$$

###### (6.18)

Let $`𝐡`$ be the union of all the colliding clusters. Then the sum of the energies

$$\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}E_𝐤<M$$

is bounded.

###### Proof.

The total energy $`H=E_𝐧`$ of the $`n`$ bodies is constant, and the difference $`_{𝐤𝐡}E_𝐤H`$ is the sum of terms of type $`m_im_j|x_ix_j|^\alpha `$, where $`i`$ and $`j`$ do not collide, and of terms of type $`\frac{1}{2}m_i\dot{x}_i^2`$, where $`i`$ do not collide with any other body. Hence it is a $`C^2`$ function and, in particular, bounded. ∎

###### (6.19)

Consider a union of colliding clusters $`𝐡=_i𝐤_i`$. If the sum of the energies

$$(t)|\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}E_𝐤(t)|<M<\mathrm{}$$

is bounded, then the function given by the sum

$$\phi =\underset{𝐤}{}I_𝐤$$

has the following properties:

* $`lim_{t0}\phi (t)=0`$.
* $`t`$: $`\phi (t)0`$, $`\dot{\phi }(t)0`$.
* There are constants $`a`$, $`b=\frac{4}{2\alpha }>2`$ and $`c`$ such that $`\dot{\phi }^2+a^2b\phi \ddot{\phi }+c\phi `$.
* There is a constant $`d>0`$ such that $`t`$: $`\ddot{\phi }\phi ^{(b2)/b}(t)d>0`$.
* There is a constant $`e`$ such that $`|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|<e\ddot{\phi }^\gamma `$, with the exponent $`\gamma =\frac{2b3}{b2}=\frac{3}{2}+\frac{1}{\alpha }`$.

###### Proof.

By definition, $`\phi 0`$ and $`lim_{t0}\phi (t)=0`$. By (6.13), $`\dot{\phi }0`$. Moreover, (6.16) yields a constant $`d`$ such that

$$(\underset{𝐤}{}\frac{\dot{I}_𝐤}{2})^2+c_𝐡^2(0)(\underset{𝐤}{}I_𝐤)(\underset{𝐤}{}\frac{\ddot{I}_𝐤}{2\alpha }+d).$$

In other words, there exist constants $`a=4c_𝐡^2(0)`$, $`b=\frac{4}{2\alpha }>2`$ and $`c=4d`$ such that $`\dot{\phi }^2+a^2b\phi \ddot{\phi }+c\phi `$.

Now we prove that there is a constant $`d>0`$ such that $`t`$: $`\ddot{\phi }\phi ^{(b2)/b}(t)d>0`$. By equation (6.14), $`\ddot{\phi }k_1_𝐤U_𝐤+k_2`$ for some constant $`k_1>0`$ and $`k_2`$. But since $`(2b)/b=\alpha /2`$, it follows that $`\ddot{\phi }k_1_𝐤U_𝐤+k_2d(_𝐤I_𝐤)^{\alpha /2}`$ for a constant $`d>0`$.

It is left to show that there is a constant $`e`$ such that $`|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|<e\ddot{\phi }^\gamma `$, with the exponent $`\gamma =\frac{2b3}{b2}=\frac{3}{2}+\frac{1}{\alpha }`$. By deriving equation (5.6)

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d^3I_𝐤}{dt^3}=2\dot{E}_𝐤+(2\alpha )\dot{U}_𝐤+\dot{R},$$

where by (5.8) and (5.10) $`2\dot{E}_𝐤+\dot{R}<cK^{1/2}+b`$ for some constants $`c>0`$ and $`b`$. Furthermore, $`\dot{U}_𝐤`$ is a combination of terms of type $`(\dot{x}_i\dot{x}_j)(x_ix_j)|x_ix_j|^{\alpha 2}`$, with $`i,j𝐤`$, and hence there is a constant $`c_2>0`$ such that

$$\dot{U}_𝐤<c_2K_𝐤^{1/2}U_𝐤^{(\alpha +1)/\alpha }.$$

Thus, by (6.14), there exists $`c>0`$ such that

$$|\frac{d^3I_𝐤}{dt^3}|cK^{1/2}U_𝐤^{(\alpha +1)/\alpha }.$$

Summing up for every $`𝐤𝐡`$, we obtain

$$|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|=|\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}\frac{d^3I_𝐤}{dt^3}|<cK^{1/2}\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}U_𝐤^{(\alpha +1)/\alpha }cK^{1/2}\left(\underset{𝐤𝐡}{}U_𝐤\right)^{(\alpha +1)/\alpha }.$$

Hence, by (6.14),

((6.20))
$$|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|<cK^{1/2}\left(\ddot{\phi }\right)^{(\alpha +1)/\alpha }.$$

Now, the wanted inequality follows if we can prove that $`Kc\ddot{\phi }`$ for some $`c>0`$. If $`𝐡=𝐧`$, then $`K=K_𝐧=K_𝐡`$, and hence by, (6.14), $`Kc\ddot{\phi }`$ for some $`c>0`$. Thus if $`𝐡=𝐧`$ the conclusion of this lemma (6.19) is true, provided that the sum of the energies

$$|\underset{𝐤𝐧}{}E_𝐤|<M$$

is bounded. But by (6.18) the sum of the all the energies is bounded, and hence we can apply to such $`\phi `$ lemma (6.2), which implies that there exists the limit

$$\underset{t0}{lim}K\left(\underset{𝐤𝐧}{}I_𝐤\right)^{\alpha /2}=\underset{t0}{lim}\phi ^{\alpha /2}\ddot{\phi },$$

and hence that there is a constant $`c_2>0`$ such that

((6.21))
$$\left(\underset{𝐤𝐧}{}I_𝐤\right)^{\alpha /2}>c_2K.$$

Now, consider again the general case of a union $`𝐡`$ of colliding clusters $`𝐤`$. We have seen that $`\ddot{\phi }\phi ^{\alpha /2}d>0`$ for a constant $`d`$, and thus,

((6.22))
$$K_𝐡d\left(\underset{𝐤𝐧}{}I_𝐤\right)^{\alpha /2}>dc_2K.$$

This implies that $`K<cK_𝐡<d\ddot{\phi }`$ for some constants $`c,d>0`$, and hence by (6.20) that $`|\frac{d^3\phi }{dt^3}|<c\ddot{\phi }^{\frac{3}{2}+\frac{1}{\alpha }}`$ as claimed. ∎

###### (6.23)

For every colliding cluster $`𝐤𝐧`$ there is a constant $`c>0`$ such that $`K_𝐤<ct^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}`$.

###### Proof.

By equation (6.22) it is enough to show that the total kinetic energy $`K`$ is bounded by $`K<ct^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}`$. By (6.18), (6.19) and (6.2), the second derivative of the function $`\phi =_{𝐤𝐧}`$ is asymptotically equal to

$$\ddot{\phi }t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )},$$

while $`K<c\phi `$ for a positive constant $`c`$, because of (6.17). ∎

###### (6.24)

For every colliding cluster $`𝐤𝐧`$ the partial energy $`E_𝐤`$ is bounded.

###### Proof.

By (5.10) the derivative $`\dot{E}_𝐤`$ is bounded by

$$\dot{E}_𝐤<\ddot{\phi }t^{\alpha /(2+\alpha )},$$

which is integrable. ∎

###### (6.25) Proposition.

Let $`𝐤`$ be a colliding cluster. Then there is $`\kappa >0`$ such that the following asymptotic estimates hold:

$`I_𝐤`$ $`(\kappa t)^{\frac{4}{2+\alpha }}`$
$`\dot{I}_𝐤`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4}{2+\alpha }}\kappa (\kappa t)^{\frac{2\alpha }{2+\alpha }}`$
$`\ddot{I}_𝐤`$ $`4{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha }{(2+\alpha )^2}}\kappa ^2(\kappa t)^{\frac{2\alpha }{2+\alpha }},`$
and therefore

$$K_𝐤U_𝐤\frac{1}{42\alpha }\ddot{I}_𝐤\frac{2}{(2+\alpha )^2}\kappa ^2(\kappa t)^{\frac{2\alpha }{2+\alpha }}.$$

###### Proof.

By (6.24) the energy of a colliding cluster is bounded, hence we can apply lemma (6.19) and consequently (6.2). ∎

Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ a colliding cluster. Define the *normalized configuration* $`s`$ by

((6.26))
$$s_i=I_𝐤^{1/2}(x_ix_0)=I_𝐤^{1/2}q_i$$

for every $`i𝐤`$. Then

((6.27))
$$\dot{q}_i=\frac{1}{2}I_𝐤^{1/2}\dot{I}_𝐤s_i+I_𝐤^{1/2}\dot{s}_i$$

and

((6.28))
$$\ddot{q}_i=(\frac{1}{4}I_𝐤^{3/2}\dot{I}_𝐤^2+\frac{1}{2}I_𝐤^{1/2}\ddot{I}_𝐤)s_i+I_𝐤^{1/2}\dot{I}_𝐤\dot{s}_i+I_𝐤^{1/2}\ddot{s}_i$$

((6.29))
$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{d^3q_i}{dt^3}=\left(\frac{3}{8}\dot{I}_𝐤^3I_𝐤^{5/2}\frac{3}{4}\dot{I}_𝐤I_𝐤^{3/2}\ddot{I}_𝐤+\frac{1}{2}I_𝐤^{1/2}\frac{d^3I_𝐤}{dt^3}\right)s_i+\\ \hfill \left(\frac{3}{4}\dot{I}_𝐤^2I_𝐤^{3/2}+\frac{3}{2}I_𝐤^{1/2}\ddot{I}_𝐤\right)\dot{s}_i+\frac{3}{2}\dot{I}_𝐤I_𝐤^{1/2}\ddot{s}_i+I_𝐤^{1/2}\frac{d^3s_i}{dt^3}.\end{array}$$

###### (6.30)

For every $`i𝐤`$: $`\underset{t0}{lim}t\dot{s}_i=0`$.

###### Proof.

By equation (6.27)

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill 2K_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{x}_i^2=\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{q}_i^2m_0\dot{x}_0^2=\\ \hfill \underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\left((\frac{1}{2}I_𝐤^{1/2}\dot{I}_𝐤s_i)^2+(I_𝐤^{1/2}\dot{s}_i)^2\right)m_0\dot{x}_0^2=\\ \hfill \frac{1}{4}\dot{I}_𝐤^2I_𝐤^1+I_𝐤\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{s}_i^2m_0\dot{x}_0^2.\end{array}$$

Now, by applying proposition (6.25) one can multiply both sides by $`(\kappa t)^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}`$ and take the limit as $`t0`$:

$$\frac{4}{(2+\alpha )^2}\kappa ^2=\frac{4}{(2+\alpha )^2}\kappa ^2+\underset{t0}{lim}\left[(\kappa t)^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}I_𝐤\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{s}_i^2\right]$$

$$\underset{t0}{lim}\left[(\kappa t)^2\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{s}_i^2\right]=0,$$

and hence

$$\underset{t0}{lim}ts_i=0.$$

###### (6.31)

For every $`i𝐤`$: $`\underset{t0}{lim}t^2\ddot{s}_i=0`$.

###### Proof.

By considering the form of $`\frac{U_𝐤}{x_i}`$ and its derivative $`\frac{d}{dt}\frac{U_𝐤}{x_i}`$ it is not difficult to show that there are positive constants $`c_1`$ and $`c_2`$ such that

$$|\ddot{q}_i|<c_1I_𝐤^{(\alpha +1)/2}c_1t^{2(\alpha +1)/(2+\alpha )},$$

$$|\frac{d^3q_i}{dt^3}|<c_2I_𝐤^{(2+\alpha )/2}K_𝐤^{1/2}.c_2t^{(3\alpha +4)/(2+\alpha )}.$$

Therefore, multiplying both sides of (6.28) by $`t^{2(\alpha +1)/(2+\alpha )}`$ one can see that $`t^2\ddot{s}_i`$ is bounded; multiplying both sides of (6.29) by $`t^{(3\alpha +4)/(2+\alpha )}`$ one can see that $`t^3\frac{d^3s_i}{dt^3}`$ is bounded.

So, for every $`i𝐤`$ consider the function $`\phi (t)=t^2\ddot{s}_i(t)`$. Since

$$_0^t\phi (\tau )𝑑\tau =t^2\dot{s}_i(t)2_0^t\tau \dot{s}(\tau )𝑑\tau ,$$

$$\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{1}{t}_0^t\phi (t)=\underset{t0}{lim}\left[t\dot{s}_i(t)\frac{2}{t}_0^t\tau \dot{s}_i(\tau )𝑑\tau \right]=0.$$

Moreover, since $`t^2\ddot{s}_i`$ and $`t^3\frac{d^3s_i}{dt^3}`$ are bounded,

$$|t\dot{\phi }|<2t^2|\ddot{s}_i|+t^3|\frac{d^3s_i}{dt^3}|<c$$

for some constant $`c>0`$. Thus, by lemma (6.1)

$$\underset{t0}{lim}t^2\ddot{s}_i=\underset{t0}{lim}\phi (t)\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{1}{t}_0^t\phi =0.$$

###### (6.32) Proposition.

For every converging sequence $`s(t_j)`$ of normalized configurations, the limit $`lim_j\mathrm{}s(t_j)`$ is a central configuration.

###### Proof.

Consider again equation (6.28) multiplied by $`(\kappa t)^{2(\alpha +1)/(2+\alpha )}`$:

((6.33))
$$(\kappa t)^{2(\alpha +1)/(2+\alpha )}\ddot{q}_i=b(t)s_i+c_1t\dot{s}_i+c_2t^2\ddot{s}_i+o(1)=b(t)s_i+o(1),$$

where $`b(t)`$ is a function with the finite limit $`b(0)=\alpha \frac{2\kappa ^2}{(2+\alpha )^2}`$ and $`c_1`$, $`c_2`$ are bounded. A central configuration $`q=(q_1,\mathrm{},q_k)`$ is a critical point of the potential $`U_𝐤`$ restricted to the ellipsoid $`I_𝐤(q)=c`$ with $`c>0`$ constant. That is, there is $`\lambda `$ such that $`\frac{U_𝐤}{q_i}=\lambda m_iq_i`$ for every $`i𝐤`$. By homogeneity

$$\alpha U_𝐤=\underset{i𝐤}{}q_i\frac{U_𝐤}{q_i}=\lambda I_𝐤,$$

hence $`\lambda =\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{U_𝐤}{I_𝐤}}`$ and thus central configurations solve the equations

((6.34))
$$\frac{U_𝐤}{q_i}U_𝐤^1I_𝐤^{1/2}=\alpha m_is_i$$

for $`i𝐤`$. Now, since the terms $`{\displaystyle \frac{U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}}{x_i}}`$ of $`{\displaystyle \frac{U}{x_i}}`$ are bounded, the limit $`\overline{s}=lim_j\mathrm{}s(t_j)`$ is a central configuration if and only if

$$m_i\ddot{q}_i(t_j)U_𝐤^1(t_j)I_𝐤^{1/2}(t_j)+\alpha m_is_i(t_j)$$

converges to $`0`$ as $`j\mathrm{}`$. By (6.25), this holds if and only if

$$\frac{(2+\alpha )^2}{2k^2}(\kappa t_j)^{2(\alpha +1)/(2+\alpha )}\ddot{q}_i(t_j)\alpha \overline{s}_i$$

as $`j\mathrm{}`$, and this follows by taking limits in (6.33). Thus $`s(t_j)`$ tends to central configurations $`\overline{s}`$ as stated. ∎

###### (6.35) Proposition.

Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a colliding cluster and $`s(t)=(s_1(t),\mathrm{},s_k(t))`$ its normalized configuration (defined in (6.26)). If $`\{\lambda _n\}_n`$ is a sequence of positive real numbers such that $`s(\lambda _n)`$ converges to a normalized configuration $`\overline{s}`$, then

$$t(0,1):\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}s(\lambda _nt)=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}s(\lambda _n)=\overline{s}.$$

###### Proof.

For every $`n`$

$$|s_i(\lambda _nt)s_i(\lambda _n)|\underset{u(t,1)}{\mathrm{max}}|\dot{s}_i(\lambda _nt)|\lambda _n(1t).$$

Moreover, for every $`ϵ>0`$ there exists $`N>0`$ such that $`u<1/Nu\dot{|}s_i(u)|ϵ`$ for every $`i=1\mathrm{}k`$ (see (6.30)). Thus for every $`ϵ>0`$ and for every $`i=1\mathrm{}k`$ the following inequalities hold:

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}|s_i(\lambda _nt)s_i(\lambda _n)|\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{u(t,1)}{\mathrm{max}}|\dot{s}_i(\lambda _nt)|\lambda _n(1t).\frac{ϵ}{\lambda _nt}\lambda _n(1t)ϵ\frac{1t}{t},\end{array}$$

hence the claim. ∎

###### (6.36) Remark.

A normalized configuration $`s`$ (relative to $`𝐤𝐧`$) is a central configuration if and only if equations (6.34) hold, and hence if and only if for every $`i𝐤`$

((6.37))
$$\underset{ji}{}m_j\frac{s_is_j}{|s_is_j|^{2+\alpha }}U_𝐤(s)^1s_i=0$$

for every $`i𝐤`$. Let $`F_i(s)`$ denote the left hand side in (6.37) and, for every subset $`𝐡𝐤`$, let $`F_𝐡(s)`$ denote the sum $`F_𝐡(s)=_{i𝐡}m_is_iF_i(s)`$; then

((6.38))
$$F_𝐡(s)=U_𝐤(s)^1\left[U_𝐡(s)+\underset{\begin{array}{c}i𝐡\\ j𝐡^{}\end{array}}{}m_im_j\frac{s_is_j}{|s_is_j|^{2+\alpha }}\right]\underset{i𝐡}{}m_is_i^2,$$

where $`𝐡^{}=𝐤𝐡`$. It is easy to see that if $`s`$ is a central configuration then $`F_𝐡(s)=0`$. On the other hand, as $`s`$ converges to a configuration $`\overline{s}`$ with a collision of type $`𝐡`$ (that is, there is $`s_0V`$ such that $`\overline{s}_i=s_0`$ for every $`i𝐡`$), then the function $`F_𝐡(s)`$ converges to $`1(_{i𝐡}m_i)s_0^2`$. Now, since $`I_𝐤(\overline{s})=1`$, there is a positive constant $`c>0`$ such that $`1(_{i𝐡}m_i)s_0^2c`$ for every $`s_0`$. Thus there is a constant $`c>0`$ such that on all points in $`s`$ containing a collision of type $`𝐡`$ the norm $`|F_𝐡(s)|c>0`$. Now we proceed iteratively. It is easy to see that $`F_𝐡`$ is continuous on the space of configurations not in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐡,𝐡^{}}`$ and vanishes on central configurations; this implies that there is a constant $`c_𝐡>0`$ such that if $`s`$ is a central configuration and $`y`$ a collision of type $`𝐚𝐡`$ then $`|sy|c_𝐡`$. It is true when $`𝐡`$ is maximal (that is, given by a collision of $`k1`$ particles), and by induction one can take the minimum of the $`c_𝐚`$ with $`𝐚𝐡`$. Hence one can conclude that there is $`c>0`$ such that $`|sy|c>0`$ for every (normalized) central configuration $`s`$ and every (normalized) collision $`y`$. In particular, the set of normalized central configurations is compact and central configurations are collisionless.

###### (6.39) Remark.

One of the difficulties in proving the asymptotic estimates of proposition (6.25) is that it is necessary to prove that the energies $`E_𝐤`$ of colliding clusters are bounded (Lemma (6.24)). This is easy to prove if the collision is total. In , proposition 2.9, it is proved by direct integration of the derivatives that partial energies are bounded, provided that asymptotic estimates of the kinetic energy are known (as a consequence of ). Thus McGehee coordinates yield asymptotic estimates only in the total collision case, in which the energy is constant and hence bounded (see also  for a conceptual proof without Tauberian theorems). For partial collisions, it is necessary to estimate partial energies as in (6.24).

## 7 Blow-ups

Aim of this section is to prove some auxiliary results about the convergence and continuity of integrals of families of rescaled solutions. The main goal is proposition (7.9) which is a key step towards the standard variation method of section 9. A similar technique was used in  and ascribed there to the second author.

Assume as in section 6 that $`x(t)`$ is a solution of Newton equations (2.8) defined in the time interval $`(0,ϵ)`$ with an isolated collision at $`t=0`$ and without other collisions in $`(0,ϵ)`$. Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a colliding cluster and define the normalized configuration $`s`$ and the centered configuration $`q`$ as in (6.26). If $`\lambda _n`$ is a sequence of real numbers such that $`s(\lambda _n)`$ converges (and thus necessarily to a central configuration $`\overline{s}`$, by (6.32)), let $`\overline{q}`$ be the path defined for $`0t<+\mathrm{}`$ as

((7.1))
$$\overline{q}_i(t)=(\kappa t)^{2/(2+\alpha )}\overline{s}_i$$

for every $`i𝐤`$, where $`\kappa >0`$ is the constant of proposition (6.25). The path $`\overline{q}`$ is termed a (right) *blow-up* of the solution $`x(t)`$ in $`0`$. Its definition depends on the choice of the limit configuration $`\overline{s}`$.

For every $`\lambda >0`$ consider the path $`q^\lambda `$ defined by

((7.2))
$$q^\lambda (t)=\lambda ^{2/(2+\alpha )}q(\lambda t)$$

for every $`t[0,\lambda ^1ϵ]`$.

###### (7.3)

The energy of the collision solution $`\overline{q}`$ is zero, i.e. the blow-up $`\overline{q}`$ is parabolic.

###### Proof.

For such a trajectory the asymptotic estimates of (6.25) are all equalities for every $`t`$. Therefore, by applying the Lagrange-Jacobi identity, the energy $`E_𝐤`$ is zero. ∎

###### (7.4)

If $`s(\lambda _n)`$ converges to the normalized configuration $`\overline{s}`$, then for every $`T>0`$ the sequences $`q^{\lambda _n}`$ and $`{\displaystyle \frac{dq^{\lambda _n}}{dt}}`$ converge to the blow-up $`\overline{q}`$ and its derivative $`\dot{\overline{q}}`$ respectively, uniformly on $`[0,T]`$ and on the compact subsets of $`(0,T]`$ respectively.

###### Proof.

By definition

$$q^{\lambda _n}(t)=(\kappa t)^{2/(2+\alpha )}\frac{I_𝐤^{1/2}(\lambda _nt)}{\lambda _n^{2/(2+\alpha )}(\kappa t)^{2/(2+\alpha )}}s(\lambda _nt).$$

Thus, since by (6.35) $`lim_{n+\mathrm{}}s(\lambda _nt)=\overline{s}`$ and by (6.25) $`I_𝐤(\lambda _nt)(\kappa \lambda _nt)^{4/(2+\alpha )}`$, for every $`t>0`$ the limit

$$\underset{n+\mathrm{}}{lim}q^{\lambda _n}(t)=(\kappa t)^{2/(2+\alpha )}\overline{s}.$$

Hence $`q^{\lambda _n}`$ converges to $`\overline{q}`$ pointwise. The convergence is uniform in $`[0,T]`$, since $`q^{\lambda _n}`$ is an $`H^1`$-bounded sequence.

Now we need to show that for every $`ϵ(0,T)`$ its derivative $`\frac{dq^{\lambda _n}}{dt}`$ converges uniformly on $`[ϵ,T]`$ to the derivative of $`\overline{q}`$. By (6.27), (6.30) and (6.25), for every $`t>0`$

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{dq^{\lambda _n}}{dt}(t)=\frac{2\kappa }{2+\alpha }(\kappa t)^{\alpha /(2+\alpha )}=\frac{d\overline{q}}{dt}(t).$$

Hence $`\frac{dq^{\lambda _n}}{dt}`$ converges pointwise to $`\dot{\overline{q}}`$. By (6.30), (6.31) and (6.27), the convergence is uniform in $`[ϵ,T]`$ for every $`ϵ(0,T)`$. ∎

We say that a path $`x(t)`$ is *centered* if its center of mass is zero. If a path is defined only for a cluster $`𝐤𝐧`$ of particles, then it is termed centered if the center of mass of the cluster is zero. By definition $`q(t)=x(t)x_0(t)`$, hence $`q(t)`$ is a centered path.

###### (7.5)

There exists a sequence $`\psi _nH^1([0,T],^d)^k`$ of centered paths converging uniformly to $`0`$ in $`[0,T]`$ and with support in $`[0,T]`$, with $`T>0`$, such that for every path $`\phi (t)=(\phi _i(t))_{i𝐤}`$ in $`H^1([0,T],^d)^k`$, with support in $`[0,T]`$ and $`C^1`$ in a neighborhood of $`T`$

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)𝑑t=_0^T_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )𝑑t.$$

Furthermore, if for every $`t`$ the centered configuration $`q(t)𝒳^H`$ for a subgroup $`HG`$, then $`\psi _n(t)𝒳^H`$ for every $`t`$.

###### Proof.

Consider a sequence $`N_n`$ (which will be chosen properly later) going to $`+\mathrm{}`$ as $`n\mathrm{}`$, and for all $`n0`$ the function $`\psi _n`$ defined as

$$\psi _n(t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\overline{q}(t)q^{\lambda _n}(t)\hfill & \text{ if }0tT\frac{1}{n},\hfill \\ N_n(Tt)(\overline{q}(t)q^{\lambda _n}(t))\hfill & \text{ if }T\frac{1}{N_n}t<T.\hfill \end{array}$$

It is clear that $`\psi _n(T)=0`$ and that $`\psi _n`$ converges to $`0`$ uniformly in $`[0,T]`$, by (7.4). For every $`t`$ the configuration $`\psi _n(t)`$ is centered, since $`\overline{q}(t)`$ and $`q^{\lambda _n}(t)`$ are centered. Furthermore, if $`q(t)𝒳^H`$ for every $`t`$, then $`q^{\lambda _n}(t)𝒳^H`$ and by taking the limit $`\overline{q}(t)𝒳^H`$, so that $`\psi _n(t)𝒳^H`$.

Since $`\phi `$ is continuous and $`\phi (T)=0`$, $`\overline{q}(t)+\phi (t)`$ is not a collision for every $`t[T1/N_n,T]`$ and $`n0`$. Moreover, since $`\phi `$ is $`C^1`$, $`\dot{\phi }`$ is bounded in $`[T1/N_n,T]`$ and $`n0`$. Moreover, by an appropriate choice of the sequence $`N_n`$ one can assume that there is a constant $`C>0`$ such that the partial Lagrangians are bounded by $`C`$: $`_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )<C`$ and $`_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)<C`$ for every $`n>n_0`$, in the interval $`[T1/N_{n_0},T]`$. Therefore, since for every $`t`$ in $`[0,T1/N_n]`$ $`q^{\lambda _n}(t)+\psi _n(t)=\overline{q}(t),`$

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill _0^T_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)𝑑t=_0^{T1/N_n}_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )𝑑t+_{T1/N_n}^T_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)𝑑t& =\hfill \\ \hfill _0^T_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )𝑑t_{T1/N_n}^T_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )𝑑t+_{T1/N_n}^T_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n),\end{array}$$

which converges to $`_0^T_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )𝑑t`$ as claimed. ∎

###### (7.6)

For every $`\lambda >0`$ let $`x^\lambda `$ be as above the path $`\lambda ^{2/(2+\alpha )}x(\lambda t)`$. Then for every $`T>0`$ and every $`\lambda >0`$

$$_0^T(x)(t)𝑑t=\lambda ^{\frac{2\alpha }{2+\alpha }}_0^{T/\lambda }(x^\lambda )(t)𝑑t.$$

###### Proof.

For every $`\lambda >0`$ by

$$(x^\lambda )(t)=\lambda ^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}(x)(\lambda t),$$

hence by integrating and changing variables

$$_0^T(x^\lambda )(t)𝑑t=\lambda ^{\frac{\alpha 2}{2+\alpha }}_0^{\lambda T}(x)(t)𝑑t.$$

###### (7.7)

Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a cluster, $`x(t)`$ a path and $`q(t)=x(t)x_0(t)`$ the corresponding centered path as in (6.26). If $`\phi `$ is a centered path of the cluster $`𝐤`$, then for every $`\lambda >0`$

$$_𝐤(q^\lambda +\phi )_𝐤(q^\lambda )=_𝐤(x^\lambda +\phi )_𝐤(x^\lambda ).$$

###### Proof.

By the arbitrariness of $`x`$ and $`q`$ we can assume that $`\lambda =1`$. Since for every $`x`$

$$_𝐤(x)=_𝐤(q)+\frac{1}{2}m_0\dot{x}_0^2,$$

where as above $`x_0(t)=x(t)q(t)`$ is the center of mass of the cluster $`𝐤`$ at time $`t`$, it is also true that

$$_𝐤(x+\phi )=_𝐤(q+\phi )+\frac{1}{2}m_0\dot{x}_0^2,$$

if $`\phi `$ is centered. ∎

###### (7.8)

Let $`\phi `$ be a path such that $`\phi _i(t)0i𝐤`$, $`T>0`$ a real number and $`\psi _n`$ the sequence of (7.5), extended with the zero path for $`i𝐤^{}`$. Then

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T\left[(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)(x^{\lambda _n})\right]𝑑t=\\ \hfill \underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T\left[_𝐤(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)_𝐤(x^{\lambda _n})\right]𝑑t.\end{array}$$

###### Proof.

Since for every $`\lambda >0`$, every $`\phi `$ and every $`x`$

$$(x+\phi )(x)=_𝐤(x+\phi )_𝐤(x)+U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x+\phi )U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x),$$

the conclusion follows once we prove that $`_0^TU_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)𝑑t`$ and $`_0^TU_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x^{\lambda _n})𝑑t`$ converge to zero as $`n\mathrm{}`$, for every $`\phi `$. Since

$$U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x^\lambda +\phi +\psi _n)=\lambda ^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x+\phi ^{1/\lambda }+\psi _n^{1/\lambda }),$$

and as $`\lambda 0`$ the term $`U_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x+\phi ^{1/\lambda }+\psi _n^{1/\lambda })`$ is uniformly bounded, $`_0^TU_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n^{1/\lambda })𝑑t`$ converges to zero as $`n\mathrm{}`$. The same argument works for $`_0^TU_{𝐤,𝐤^{}}(x^{\lambda _n})𝑑t`$. ∎

###### (7.9) Proposition.

Let $`x(t)`$ be a solution in $`(0,ϵ)`$, with an isolated collision in $`t=0`$. Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a colliding cluster and $`\overline{q}`$ a (right) blow-up of $`x(t)`$ with respect to $`𝐤`$ in $`0`$. Let $`T(0,ϵ)`$ and let $`\phi `$ be a variation of the particles in $`𝐤`$ which is $`C^1`$ in a neighborhood of $`T`$, defined and centered for every $`t[0,T]`$. Then the sequence $`\psi _n`$ of (7.5) has the following property:

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T\left[(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)(x^{\lambda _n})\right]𝑑t=_0^T\left[(\overline{q}+\phi )(\overline{q})\right]𝑑t.$$

###### Proof.

As a consequence of the asymptotic estimates (6.25), the Lagrangians $`(q^{\lambda _n})`$ are uniformly bounded by an integrable function, hence by the Lebesgue theorem

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T(q^{\lambda _n})𝑑t=_0^T(\overline{q})𝑑t,$$

and therefore by (7.5)

$$_0^T\left[_𝐤(\overline{q}+\phi )_𝐤(\overline{q})\right]𝑑t=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\left[_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n})\right]dt.$$

Since $`\psi _n`$ and $`\phi `$ are centered, $`\phi +\psi _n`$ is centered for every $`n`$, and therefore by (7.7)

$$_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n})=_𝐤(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)_𝐤(x^{\lambda _n}),$$

so that

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\left[_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)_𝐤(q^{\lambda _n})\right]dt=\\ \hfill \underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T\left[_𝐤(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)_𝐤(x^{\lambda _n})\right]𝑑t\end{array}$$

But as a consequence of (7.8) the latter limit is equal to

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T\left[(x^{\lambda _n}+\phi +\psi _n)(x^{\lambda _n})\right]𝑑t,$$

and this concludes the proof. ∎

## 8 Averaging estimates

Now we come to the averaging estimates (8.4). The main idea, inspired by Marchal’s argument as explained in  (see remark (8.5) below), is to consider a parabolic collision-ejection trajectory $`\overline{q}`$ (7.1) and to replace one (or more, if it is necessary – we will explain how in the proof of (10.3)) of the point particles with a homogeneous circle having the same mass, constant radius, and center moving following the same trajectory of the original particle. The key point is that this procedure decreases the integral of the potential $`U`$ on the time line, and hence it will be possible in the next section to define a *standard variation* $`v^\delta `$, following this principle, to show that such a homotetic solution $`\overline{q}`$ cannot be a minimizer.

For all $`\xi ,\delta ^3\{0\}`$ let $`S(\xi ,\delta )`$ denote the following integral (where $`\alpha (0,2)`$)

((8.1))
$$S(\xi ,\delta )=_0^+\mathrm{}\left[\frac{1}{|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi +\delta |^\alpha }\frac{1}{|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi |^\alpha }\right]𝑑t$$

If $`\lambda >0`$ is a real number, then

$`S(\lambda \xi ,\delta )`$ $`=\lambda ^{1\alpha /2}S(\xi ,\delta )`$
$`S(\xi ,\lambda \delta )`$ $`=\lambda ^\alpha S(\lambda ^1\xi ,\delta )=\lambda ^{1\alpha /2}S(\xi ,\delta )`$
and hence

((8.2))
$$S(\xi ,\delta )=|\xi |^{1\alpha /2}|\delta |^{1\alpha /2}S(\frac{\xi }{|\xi |},\frac{\delta }{|\delta |}).$$

Consider a circle $`𝕊^3`$ with center in $`0`$ (its radius is equal to $`\frac{|𝕊|}{2\pi }`$). For any vector $`\xi ^3\{0\}`$ let $`\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi ,𝕊)`$ be defined as the average of $`S(\xi ,)`$ on the circle $`𝕊`$

((8.3))
$$\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi ,𝕊)=\frac{1}{|𝕊|}_𝕊S(\xi ,\delta )𝑑\delta .$$

The purpose of this section is to prove the following theorem.

###### (8.4) Theorem.

For every $`\xi ^3\{0\}`$ and for every circle $`𝕊^3`$ with center in $`0`$,

$$\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi ,𝕊)=\frac{1}{|𝕊|}_𝕊S(\xi ,\delta )𝑑\delta <0.$$

###### (8.5) Remark.

A comparison with the argument of Marchal is in order. In the quoted paper  the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional cases are considered separately both in the case of exponent $`\alpha =1`$. The three-dimensional case is the simplest: from our point of view the key point consists in proving an inequality like the one in (8.4), with the integral taken over a two-dimensional sphere $`𝕊=S^2`$; which directly follows from the harmonicity of the Kepler potential in $`^3`$. To treat the planar case, Marchal used the known potential generated by a special radially symmetric mass distribution on the disc $`B^2`$. Let us observe that, due to the homogeneity property (8.2), any mass distribution $`\mu (r)`$ on the disc would fit our purpose: indeed, integrating in polar coordinates

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|B^2|}}{\displaystyle _{B^2}}S(\xi ,x)\mu (|x|)𝑑x`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{|S^1|}}{\displaystyle _0^1}{\displaystyle _{S^1}}S(\xi ,r\delta )r\mu (r)𝑑r𝑑\delta `$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{|S^1|}}\left({\displaystyle _{S^1}}S(\xi ,\delta )𝑑\delta \right)\left({\displaystyle _0^1}r^{2\alpha /2}\mu (r)𝑑r\right),`$
whose sign does not depend on the choice of the function $`\mu `$.

###### (8.6)

Consider a circle $`𝕊`$ as above, and a family of unit vectors $`\xi _\gamma ^3\{0\}`$, with $`\gamma [0,\pi /2]`$, such that $`\xi _\gamma `$ and the plane generated by $`𝕊`$ meet at an angle $`\gamma `$. Then the function

$$\phi (\gamma )=\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi _\gamma ,𝕊)$$

is monotonically decreasing with $`\gamma `$ and for every $`\gamma `$

$$\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi _\gamma ,𝕊)(\mathrm{cos}\gamma )^{1\alpha /2}\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi _0,𝕊).$$

###### of (8.6).

Consider the function

$$f(\xi ,\delta ,t)=\frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{1}{|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi +\delta |^\alpha }+\frac{1}{|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi \delta |^\alpha }\right]\frac{1}{|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi |^\alpha }.$$

Since

$$\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi ,𝕊)=\frac{1}{|𝕊|}_𝕊_0^+\mathrm{}f(\xi ,\delta ,t)𝑑t𝑑\delta ,$$

the result follows from the fact that if $`\theta `$ denotes the angle between the plane generated by $`𝕊`$ and $`\delta `$, the following equation holds:

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill f(\xi ,\delta ,t)=\frac{1}{2}[\frac{1}{(t^{4/(2+\alpha )}+2\mathrm{cos}\gamma \mathrm{cos}\theta t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+1)^{\alpha /2}}+\\ \hfill +\frac{1}{(t^{4/(2+\alpha )}2\mathrm{cos}\gamma \mathrm{cos}\theta t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+1)^{\alpha /2}}]\\ \hfill \frac{1}{|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi |^\alpha },\end{array}$$

and the right hand side is monotonically decreasing in $`\gamma `$ in $`[0,\pi /2]`$ (an easy computation shows that the derivative is negative, whatever be the sign of $`\mathrm{cos}\theta `$).

Furthermore, since if $`|\xi _\gamma |=|\delta |=1`$

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill S(\xi _\gamma ,\delta )=_0^+\mathrm{}\left[\frac{1}{|t^{4/(2+\alpha )}+2\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\gamma t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+1|^{\alpha /2}}t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑t\\ \hfill _0^+\mathrm{}\left[\frac{1}{|t^{4/(2+\alpha )}+2\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\gamma t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+\mathrm{cos}^2\gamma |^{\alpha /2}}t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑t=\\ \hfill S(\xi _0,\mathrm{cos}\gamma \delta )=(\mathrm{cos}\gamma )^{1\alpha /2}S(\xi _0,\delta ),\end{array}$$

for every $`\gamma [0,\pi /2]`$

$$\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi _\gamma ,𝕊)(\mathrm{cos}\gamma )^{1\alpha /2}\stackrel{~}{S}(\xi _0,𝕊).$$

###### (8.7)

If $`x(0,1)`$, then

$$\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }|1+xe^{i\theta }|^\alpha =\underset{k=0}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2x^{2k}$$

###### Proof.

Since for $`|z|<1`$ and $`a`$

$$(1+z)^a=\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{a}{k}\right)z^k,$$

if $`z=xe^{i\theta }`$ with $`0x<1`$ then

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill |1+z|^\alpha =(1+z)^{\alpha /2}(1+\overline{z})^{\alpha /2}=\\ \hfill =\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{k_1+k_2=k}{}\left(\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k_1}\right)\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k_2}\right)e^{i(k_1k_2)\theta }\right)x^k.\end{array}$$

Therefore

$$\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }|1+xe^{i\theta }|^\alpha 𝑑\theta =\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2x^{2k},$$

since

$$_0^{2\pi }\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k_1}\right)\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k_2}\right)e^{i(k_1k_2)\theta }𝑑\theta =\{\begin{array}{cc}2\pi \hfill & \text{ if }k_1=k_2\text{ }\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }k_1k_2\hfill \end{array}$$

###### (8.8)

If $`x(1,+\mathrm{})`$, then

$$\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }|1+xe^{i\theta }|^\alpha =x^\alpha \underset{k=0}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2x^{2k}$$

###### Proof.

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }|1+xe^{i\theta }|^\alpha 𝑑\theta =x^\alpha \frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }|1+\frac{e^{i\theta }}{x}|^\alpha =\\ \hfill x^\alpha \underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2(\frac{1}{x})^{2k}.\end{array}$$

###### (8.9)

Consider in the complex plane $`\xi =1`$. Then

$$\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi +e^{i\theta }|^\alpha 𝑑\theta =\{\begin{array}{cc}_{k=0}^{\mathrm{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2t^{4k/(2+\alpha )}\hfill & \text{ if }t(0,1)\hfill \\ _{k=0}^{\mathrm{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2t^{(4k+2\alpha )/(2+\alpha )}\hfill & \text{ if }t(1,\mathrm{})\hfill \end{array}$$

###### Proof.

It is a simple consequence of (8.7) and (8.8). ∎

###### (8.10)

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{1}{2\pi }_0^1_0^{2\pi }\left[|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+e^{i\theta }|^\alpha t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑\theta 𝑑t=\\ \hfill \frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\right]\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }.\end{array}$$

###### Proof.

It follows by integrating the first series in (8.9). ∎

###### (8.11)

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{1}{2\pi }_1^+\mathrm{}_0^{2\pi }\left[|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+e^{i\theta }|^\alpha t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑\theta 𝑑t=\\ \hfill \frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{\alpha 2}{4}}\right].\end{array}$$

###### Proof.

It follows by integrating the second series in (8.9), in which the term for $`k=0`$ is equal to $`t^{2\alpha }2+\alpha `$. ∎

Now we can sum the two latter equations changing the summation index of the second, hence obtaining

((8.12))
$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{1}{2\pi }_0^+\mathrm{}_0^{2\pi }\left[|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+e^{i\theta }|^\alpha t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑\theta 𝑑t=\\ \hfill \frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=0}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k+1}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\right]+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=0}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\right]\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }=\\ \hfill \frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=0}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)\right]\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }=\\ \hfill \frac{\alpha ^2}{4}+1+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=1}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)\right]\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }.\end{array}$$

###### (8.13)

If $`x(0,1)`$, then for every $`k1`$,

$$|\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{x}{k}\right)|x\left(\frac{k}{2}\right)^{x1}.$$

###### Proof.

If $`k=1`$, then it is true since it reduces to $`xx`$. Otherwise, if $`k2`$,

$`\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{x}{k}}\right)`$ $`=(1)^k{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{k}{}}}(1+{\displaystyle \frac{x1}{j}}),`$
hence

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \left|\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{x}{k}\right)\right|=x\underset{j=2}{\overset{k}{}}(1+\frac{x1}{j})=xe^{_{j=2}^k\mathrm{log}(1+\frac{x1}{j})}\\ \hfill xe^{(x1)_{j=2}^k\frac{1}{j}}xe^{(x1)\mathrm{log}\frac{k}{2}}=x(\frac{k}{2})^{x1}\end{array}$$

as claimed. ∎

###### (8.14)

$$\underset{k=1}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)\right]<2^{1\alpha }\alpha ^2\frac{3\alpha }{2\alpha }.$$

###### Proof.

By (8.13) it follows that

$$\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)<\frac{\alpha ^2}{4}\left(\frac{k}{2}\right)^2\frac{2}{k}=\frac{\alpha ^2}{4}(\frac{k}{2})^{\alpha 3},$$

and hence

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \underset{k=1}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)\right]<\\ \hfill 2^{1\alpha }\alpha ^2\underset{k=1}{}k^{\alpha 3}=2^{1\alpha }\alpha ^2\zeta (3\alpha ).\end{array}$$

Now, since for positive $`s`$

$$\zeta (s)1+\frac{1}{s1},$$

it follows that

$$\zeta (3\alpha )1+\frac{1}{2\alpha },$$

and therefore that

$$\underset{k=1}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)\right]<2^{1\alpha }\alpha ^2\frac{3\alpha }{2\alpha }.$$

###### Proof of theorem (8.4).

By (8.6), it is suffices to prove theorem (8.4) in the case $`\xi `$ belongs to $`𝕊`$. By (8.2) we can assume $`|\xi |=1`$. By a change of coordinates we can assume that $`\xi =1`$, where $`=^2^3`$ is an embedded plane. Now, by equation (8.12)

((8.15))
$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \stackrel{~}{S}(\xi ,𝕊)=\stackrel{~}{S}(1,𝕊)=\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^+\mathrm{}_0^{2\pi }\left[|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+e^{i\theta }|^\alpha t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑\theta 𝑑t=\\ \hfill \frac{\alpha ^2}{4}+1+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}\underset{k=1}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\alpha /2}{k}\right)^2\frac{1}{k+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}}\left(\frac{(\alpha /2+k)^2}{(1+k)^2}+1\right)\right]\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }.\end{array}$$

Therefore, by applying inequality (8.14),

((8.16))
$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \stackrel{~}{S}(\xi ,𝕊)<\frac{\alpha ^2}{4}+1+\frac{2+\alpha }{4}\left(2^{1\alpha }\alpha ^2\frac{3\alpha }{2\alpha }\right)\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }=\\ \hfill \frac{a}{4}\frac{82\alpha +\alpha ^2}{2\alpha }+\frac{2+\alpha }{2}\alpha ^2\frac{3\alpha }{2\alpha }2^\alpha <0,\end{array}$$

since for $`a[0,2]`$

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill 2^\alpha <\frac{7}{8}(3\alpha )<\frac{(82\alpha +\alpha ^2)(3\alpha )}{2(2+\alpha )}.\end{array}$$

The proof is complete. ∎

###### (8.17) Remark.

The sums in (8.10) and (8.11) can be written in terms of hypergeometric functions as follows

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{1}{2\pi }_0^1_0^{2\pi }\left[|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+e^{i\theta }|^\alpha t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑\theta 𝑑t=\\ \hfill {}_{3}{}^{}F_{2}^{}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\alpha /2,& \alpha /2,& (2+\alpha )/4;\\ & 1,& (6+\alpha )/4;\end{array}1\right)\frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha },\end{array}$$

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{1}{2\pi }_1^+\mathrm{}_0^{2\pi }\left[|t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+e^{i\theta }|^\alpha t^{2\alpha /(2+\alpha )}\right]𝑑\theta 𝑑t=\\ \hfill \frac{2+\alpha }{2\alpha }\left(1{}_{3}{}^{}F_{2}^{}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\alpha /2,& \alpha /2,& (\alpha 2)/4;\\ & 1,& (2+\alpha )/4;\end{array}1\right)\right).\end{array}$$

They are nearly-poised (of the second kind) hypergeometric functions evaluated in $`1`$. They are balanced (i.e. Saalschützian) if and only if $`\alpha =1`$.

## 9 The standard variation

Assume that $`\overline{q}`$ is a parabolic collision solution of the particles in $`𝐤𝐧`$, as defined in (7.1) for every $`t0`$. Up to a change of the time scale we can assume that $`\kappa =1`$, so that $`\overline{q}=t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\overline{s}`$. Let $`\delta ^{dk}=(^d)^k`$ be a vector of norm $`|\delta |=_{i𝐤}\delta _i^2`$ sufficiently small and $`T>0`$ a real number. In this section we will define the *standard variation* associated to $`\delta `$, and show how to use the averaging estimate (8.4) of the previous section in our equivariant context. It will be of crucial importance to introduce the notions of definitions (9.3) and (9.4), since they are the building blocks of the *rotating circle property* (10.1) that will be introduced in the next section.

###### (9.1) Definition.

The *standard variation* associated to $`\delta `$ and $`T`$ is defined as follows:

$$v^\delta (t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\delta \hfill & \text{ if }0tT|\delta |\hfill \\ (Tt)\frac{\delta }{|\delta |}\hfill & \text{ if }T|\delta |tT\text{ }\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{if }tT\hfill \end{array}$$

Let $`𝒰`$ and $`𝒦`$ denote the operators

$$𝒰(q)(t)=\underset{i<j}{}\frac{m_im_j}{|q_i(t)q_j(t)|^\alpha }$$

and

$$𝒦(q)(t)=\underset{i𝐤}{}\frac{1}{2}m_i\dot{q}_i^2(t).$$

###### (9.2)

Let $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝒜`$ denote the difference $`𝒜(q+v^\delta )𝒜(q)`$ (where $`𝒜`$ is meant in $`[0,T]`$). Then for $`\delta 0`$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }𝒜=|\delta |^{1\alpha /2}\underset{i<j}{}m_im_jS(\overline{s}_i\overline{s}_j,\frac{\delta _i\delta _j}{|\delta |})+O(|\delta |)$$

###### Proof.

Since $`\dot{v}^\delta `$ and $`\dot{\overline{q}}`$ are bounded in a neighborhood of $`T`$,

$$2_0^T\left(𝒦(\overline{q}+v^\delta )𝒦(\overline{q})\right)𝑑t=_{T|\delta |}^T\underset{i𝐤}{}m_i\dot{v}_i^\delta (\dot{v}_i^\delta 2\overline{\dot{q}_i})dt$$

and hence there exists a constant $`c_1>0`$ such that for every $`\delta `$ sufficiently small

$$\left|_0^T\left(𝒦(\overline{q}+v^\delta )𝒦(\overline{q})\right)𝑑t\right|c_1|\delta |.$$

Furthermore, for every $`i>j`$, $`i,j𝐤`$,

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill _0^T\left(\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+v_i^\delta v_j^\delta |^\alpha }\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }\right)𝑑t=\\ \hfill _0^+\mathrm{}\left(\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+\delta _i\delta _j|^\alpha }\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }\right)𝑑t+r(\delta ),\end{array}$$

where the remainder is

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill r(\delta )=_{T|\delta |}^T\left(\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+v_i^\delta v_j^\delta |^\alpha }\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }\right)𝑑t\\ \hfill _{T|\delta |}^+\mathrm{}\left(\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+\delta _i\delta _j|^\alpha }\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }\right)𝑑t.\end{array}$$

Now, the function $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+v_i^\delta v_j^\delta |^\alpha }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }}\right)`$ is bounded in a neighborhood of $`T`$, hence there is a constant $`c_2`$ such that

$$\left|_{T|\delta |}^T\left(\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+v_i^\delta v_j^\delta |^\alpha }\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }\right)𝑑t\right|c_2|\delta |.$$

Furthermore, since there is a constant $`c_3>0`$ such that for every $`\delta `$ sufficiently small and for every $`tT`$

$$\left|\frac{1}{|(\overline{s}_i\overline{s}_j)t^{2/(2+\alpha )}+\delta _i\delta _j|^\alpha }\frac{1}{|(\overline{s}_i\overline{s}_j)t^{2/(2+\alpha )}|^\alpha }\right|c_3|\delta |t^{2(\alpha +1)/(2+\alpha )},$$

the inequality

$$\left|_{T|\delta |}^+\mathrm{}\left(\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j+\delta _i\delta _j|^\alpha }\frac{1}{|\overline{q}_i\overline{q}_j|^\alpha }\right)𝑑t\right|c_4|\delta |$$

holds for some constant $`c_4>0`$ and every $`\delta 0`$. Therefore

$$\mathrm{\Delta }𝒜=_0^T(\mathrm{\Delta }𝒦+\mathrm{\Delta }𝒰)𝑑t=\underset{i<j}{}m_im_jS(\overline{s}_i\overline{s}_j,\delta _i\delta _j)+r(\delta )$$

where $`|r(\delta )|c|\delta |`$ for some $`c>0`$ and every $`\delta 0`$; $`S`$ is defined in (8.1). The conclusion follows at once by applying equation (8.2). ∎

###### (9.3) Definition.

For a group $`H`$ acting orthogonally on $`V`$, a circle $`𝕊V`$ (with center in $`0V`$) is termed *rotating under $`H`$* if $`𝕊`$ is invariant under $`H`$ (that is, for every $`gH`$ $`g𝕊=𝕊`$) and for every $`gH`$ the restriction $`g|𝕊:𝕊𝕊`$ of the orthogonal motion $`g:VV`$ is a rotation (where the identity is meant as a rotation of angle $`0`$).

###### (9.4) Definition.

Let $`i𝐧`$ be an index and $`HG`$ a subgroup. A circle $`𝕊V`$ (with center in $`0V`$) is termed *rotating for $`i`$ under $`H`$* if $`𝕊`$ is rotating under $`H`$ and

$$𝕊V^{H_i}V,$$

where $`H_iH`$ denotes the isotropy subgroup of the index $`i`$ in $`H`$ relative to the action of $`H`$ on the index set $`𝐧`$ induced by restriction (that is, the isotropy $`H_i=\{gH|gi=i\}`$).

###### (9.5) Remark.

It is not difficult to show that if $`𝕊`$ is rotating for $`i`$ under $`H`$, then $`h𝕊`$ is rotating for $`hi`$ under $`H`$ for every $`hH`$. In fact $`hV^{H_i}=V^{hH_ih^1}=V^{H_j}`$, and the conjugate of a rotation is a rotation. Moreover, the motivation of this definition will become clear in the following sections. Actually, the main point will be to move the particle $`i`$ away from the collision, with the further property that the configuration at the collision time is $`H`$-equivariant. Thus, moving away $`i`$ will automatically (by equivariance) need to move away all the images of $`i`$ in $`Hi`$ (which is automatically $`H`$-homogeneous), and of course $`i`$ can be moved only in a direction fixed by its isotropy subgroup $`H_i`$. Hence, if a circle $`𝕊V`$ is rotating for the index $`i`$ under $`H`$, then $`i`$ can be moved away from $`0`$ in all the directions of $`𝕊`$, since by hypothesis $`𝕊V^{H_i}`$, and at the same time the corresponding bodies in $`H_i`$ will be moved by equivariance in the same circle $`𝕊`$ (since by hypothesis $`H𝕊=𝕊`$); not only, the total collision of the $`|Hi|`$ bodies is so replaced by a regular polygon (given by the rotation of the variation of $`i`$ in $`𝕊`$).

###### (9.6) Definition.

A subset $`𝐤𝐧`$ is termed *$`H`$-homogeneous* for a subgroup $`HG`$ if $`H`$ acts transitively on $`𝐤`$, that is, for every $`i,j𝐤`$ there exists a $`hH`$ such that $`hi=j`$. This implies that $`m_i=m_j`$ by (3.1).

If $`𝐤𝐧`$, then let $`𝒳_𝐤V^n`$ denote the space consisting in all configurations such that $`i𝐤x_i=0`$. It is isomorphic to the (not centered) configuration space in $`V`$ of the $`k`$ bodies in $`𝐤`$.

###### (9.7)

Let $`HG`$ be a subgroup. If $`𝐤𝐧`$ is $`H`$-homogeneous and $`i𝐤`$, then there is an isomorphism (and isometry)

$$\iota _i:V^{H_i}𝒳_𝐤^H$$

defined by

$$pV^{H_i},j𝐤:\left(\iota _i(p)\right)_j=h_{i,j}p$$

where $`h_{i,j}`$ is any element in $`H`$ such that $`h_{i,j}i=j`$.

###### Proof.

The homomorphism (of vector spaces over $``$) $`\iota _i`$ does not depend on the choice of the the elements $`h_{i,j}`$ in $`H`$: if $`h_1i=h_2i`$ then $`h_2^1h_1H_i`$, so that $`h_1p=h_2p`$. Furthermore, if for $`hH`$ $`l=h^1j𝐧`$, then $`l=h^1h_{i,j}i`$ for any $`h_{i,j}`$ such that $`h_{i,j}i=j`$, and hence by (3.2)

$$\left(h\iota _i(p)\right)_j=h\left(\iota _i(p)\right)_{h^1j}=hh^1h_{i,j}p=\left(\iota _i(p)\right)_j$$

that is, $`H\iota _i(p)=\iota _i(p)`$. Consider the homomorphism $`r_i:𝒳_𝐤^HV^{H_i}`$, defined by the projection $`r_i(q)=q_i`$ for every $`q𝒳_𝐤^H`$. It is easy to show, by the homogeneity of $`𝐤`$, that $`r_i`$ is the inverse of $`\iota _i`$. The fact that $`\iota _i`$ is an isometry is easy to prove. ∎

###### (9.8)

Consider a (right) blow-up $`\overline{q}`$ as in (7.1) of type $`𝐤𝐧`$ and a subgroup $`HG`$. If there exists an index $`i𝐤`$ and a circle $`𝕊V`$ which is rotating under $`H`$ for the index $`i`$, then for every $`T>0`$ the average in $`𝕊`$ of the variation of the Lagrangian action (in the interval $`[0,T]`$)

$$_𝕊\left(𝒜(\overline{q}+v^{\iota _i(p)})𝒜(\overline{q})\right)𝑑p<0$$

is negative.

###### Proof.

First note that for $`p𝕊`$ the image $`\delta =\iota _i(p)`$ belongs to $`𝒳_𝐤^H`$, and $`v^{\iota _i(p)}`$ denotes the standard variation (9.1), defined for $`t0`$ and with support in $`[0,T]`$. By definition $`v^{\iota _i(p)}(t)𝒳_𝐤^H`$ for every $`t`$ and $`\iota _i|𝕊`$ is an embedding of $`𝕊`$ in $`𝒳_{Hi}^H𝒳_𝐤^H`$. Without loss of generality we can assume that $`i=1`$. By (9.2), $`_𝕊\mathrm{\Delta }𝒜𝑑p<0`$ if and only if

((9.9))
$$\underset{i<j}{}m_im_jS(\overline{s}_i\overline{s}_j,\frac{\delta _i\delta _j}{|\delta |})<0$$

where $`\delta _i=\left(\iota _1(p)\right)_i=h_{1,i}p`$ for any $`h_{1,i}H`$ such that $`h_{1,i}1=i`$. This implies that $`|\delta |`$ is constant in $`\iota _1(𝕊)`$ and that as $`p`$ ranges in $`𝕊`$, for every $`i,j𝐤`$ the difference $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _i\delta _j}{|\delta |}}`$ ranges in a circle $`𝕊^{}`$ in $`V`$: if $`i,jHi𝐤`$ then

$$\frac{\delta _i\delta _j}{|\delta |}=\frac{(h_{1,i}h_{1,j})p}{|\delta |}$$

which describes a circle of radius $`2(1\mathrm{cos}\theta )`$, where $`\theta `$ is the angle of the rotation in $`𝕊`$ given by the composition of the rotations $`h_{1,i}^1h_{i,j}`$. On the other hand, if one considers indexes $`jHi`$, then $`\delta _j=0`$ and

$$\frac{\delta _i\delta _j}{|\delta |}=\frac{h_{1,i}p}{|\delta |}$$

which describes in a circle of radius $`1`$. Hence we can apply theorem (8.4) for every $`i,j`$ in the sum in (9.9) to obtain the claimed statement. ∎

###### (9.10) Remark.

The idea of the proof of (9.8) can be also sketched as follows: if there exists a circle $`𝕊V`$ which is rotating under the subgroup $`H`$ for the index $`i`$, then one can replace the colliding particle $`i`$ with a circle in the rotating circle $`𝕊`$ under $`H`$ (which exists by hypothesis). The isotropy $`H_i`$ needs to fix $`𝕊`$, and $`H`$ acts on $`𝕊`$ by rotation, hence by equivariance all the particles in $`Hi`$ are replaced by circles $`h𝕊`$ (i.e. rotated copies of $`𝕊`$). The main point is that the interaction of particles in $`Hi`$ with the other particles and the interaction of particles within $`Hi`$ both yield the same type of integral (namely, the integral which appears in the inequality of theorem (8.4)), which lower the value of the action functional.

## 10 The rotating circle property and the main theorems

Once analyzed the standard variation in the previous section, we can can now finally introduce the definition of *rotating circle property* and so state and prove the main theorems (10.3) and (10.10). Property (10.1) depends only on the group action, thus it is computable in terms of $`\rho `$, $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$. We will see in section 11 that actions often have this property, so that the results (10.3) and (10.10) can be applied to wide classes of group actions, together with proposition (4.1). The proofs of (10.3) and (10.10) basically rely only on the averaging estimate (8.4) and the properties of the standard variation.

The following definition is motivated by (9.8), where the existence of a rotating circle under $`H`$ for $`i`$ is exploited to move away from the collision the $`i`$-th particle, while keeping the $`H`$-equivariance of the final trajectory.

###### (10.1) Definition.

We say that a group $`G`$ acts (on $`𝕋`$, $`𝐧`$ and $`V`$) with the *rotating circle property* (or, equivalently, that $`G`$ *has* the rotating circle property, once the $`G`$-action is chosen) if for every $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroup $`G_tG`$ and for at least $`n1`$ indexes $`i𝐧`$ there exists in $`V`$ a rotating circle $`𝕊`$ under $`G_t`$ for $`i`$. (See also in (3.15) the definition of $`𝕋`$-isotropy and in (9.4) the definition of rotating circle).

The trivial group has the rotating circle property. If a group $`G`$ has the rotating circle property, then it is easy to show that any subgroup $`KG`$ has it. In fact, a group has the rotating circle property if and only if all its maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups have the property. We will see in the examples in the last section that to determine whether a group acts with the rotating circle property is usually a straightforward task.

###### (10.2) Remark.

The reason that in definition (10.1) it is required the existence in $`V`$ of a rotating circle $`𝕊`$ under the isotropy $`G_t`$ for *at least $`(n1)`$ indexes in $`𝐧`$* is simply that, in order to apply the local averaging variation to all possible collisions, one has to be sure that there exists at least one particle $`i`$ that can be moved away, for each choice of a cluster $`𝐤𝐧`$. Since in a collision of type $`𝐤`$ there are necessarily at least $`2`$ bodies and $`(n1)`$ of the $`n`$ bodies can be always moved, it follows that surely at least one of the colliding particles can be moved (see (9.8) and also the proof of theorem (10.3) below). More generally, if $`t𝕋`$ is a collision time and $`G_t`$ its isotropy, then one can define the subset $`𝐤_t𝐧`$ of all those indexes $`i𝐧`$ for which there is a rotating circle under $`G_t`$ for $`i`$ (thus, all those particles that can be moved away from a collision). The proof of (10.3) will show that in a local minimizer all the particles in $`𝐤_t`$ are not colliding. Hence if $`𝐤_t`$ has at least $`n1`$ elements, no particle can collide. More generally, if every $`𝐤_t`$ has at least $`nk`$ elements, then a colliding cluster in a local minimizer needs to consist of at most $`k`$ particles.

Before stating the next theorem, we would like to recall that a minimizer for the fixed–ends problem (also known as Bolza problem) is a minimizer of the Lagrangian action in the space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{x,y}H^1([0,1],𝒳)`$ of paths (defined in the time interval $`[0,1]`$) starting from the configuration $`x𝒳`$ and ending in the configuration $`y𝒳`$. If $`K`$ is a group acting on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ as in (3.3), in particular it acts on $`𝒳`$ and therefore on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{x,y}`$. If $`x,y𝒳^K`$, the $`K`$-equivariant Bolza problem consists in finding critical points (in our case, minimizers – see definition (4.5)) of the the restriction of the Lagrangian functional to the fixed subspace $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{x,y}^KH^1([0,1],𝒳^K)`$. Using the defining property of the fundamental domain $`𝕀`$, we will apply this result later to the case $`K=\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ (Theorem (10.7)).

###### (10.3) Theorem.

Consider a finite group $`K`$ acting on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with the rotating circle property. Then a minimizer of the $`K`$-equivariant fixed–ends (Bolza) problem is free of collisions.

###### Proof.

Let $`x`$ be a minimizer and let $`𝕀=(T_0,T_1)`$ denote the interior of its time domain. By (4.11), $`x`$ is a generalized solution in $`𝕀`$. If there is an interior collision, then by (5.13) there is an interior isolated collision at a time $`t_0𝕀`$. We can assume that $`t_0=0`$. Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a colliding cluster for such a collision solution. If $`T>0`$ is small enough, then the interval $`[T,T]`$ is contained in the interior of $`𝕀`$ and does not contain collision times for $`t0`$. Thus there exists a (right and left) blow-up $`\overline{q}(t)`$ defined as in (7.1) by

$$\overline{q}_i(t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi _i\hfill & \text{ if }t0\hfill \\ (t)^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi _i^{}\hfill & \text{ if }t<0\hfill \end{array}$$

for every $`i𝐤`$, where $`\xi `$ and $`\xi ^{}`$ are suitable central configurations.

By hypothesis $`K`$ has the rotating circle property (10.1). Furthermore, since $`x(t)𝒳^K`$ for every $`t`$, the centered cluster trajectory $`q(t)𝒳_𝐤^H`$, where $`HK`$ is the subgroup consisting of all the elements of $`g\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ such that $`g𝐤=𝐤`$. Therefore there exists $`i𝐤`$ and a circle $`𝕊V`$ rotating under $`H`$ for $`i`$, and hence by applying (7.9) to both sides of $`[T,0]`$ and $`[0,T]`$ and adding the results, the average in $`𝕊`$ of the variation of $`𝒜`$

$$_𝕊\left(𝒜(\overline{q}+v^{\iota _i(p)})𝒜(\overline{q})\right)𝑑p<0$$

is negative. Thus there is $`p𝕊`$ such that if $`\delta =\iota _i(p)`$,

((10.4))
$$𝒜(\overline{q}+v^\delta )𝒜(\overline{q})<0.$$

Now, by (9.7), such $`\delta 𝒳_𝐤^H`$. The subset $`K𝐤𝐧`$ is the disjoint union of $`h`$ images of $`𝐤`$, where $`h`$ is the index of $`H`$ in $`K`$, and $`\delta `$ yields in a unique way an element $`\delta 𝒳^H`$ (that we will denote still by $`\delta `$, with a abuse of terminology), by setting $`\delta _j=g\delta _i`$ if $`gi=j`$ for $`gK`$ and with $`\delta _j=0`$ otherwise. Hence one can apply (10.4) and (7.9) $`h`$ times (for both sides – and projecting on the centered variations if necessary), to show that there exists a sequence

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^T\left[(x^{\lambda _n}+v^\delta +\psi _n)(x^{\lambda _n})\right]𝑑t=h_0^T\left[(\overline{q}+v^\delta )(\overline{q})\right]𝑑t<0$$

where $`v^\delta (t)+\psi _n(t)𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$ for every $`t[T,T]`$. But this means that $`x^{\lambda _n}`$ is not a local minimizer for $`n0`$, and by (7.7) that $`x`$ is not a local minimizer. This contradicts the assumption, hence there cannot be interior collisions. ∎

###### (10.5) Remark.

As explained in remark (10.2), one could easily rephrase and generalize theorem (10.3) as: *Consider a finite group $`K`$ acting on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. For every $`t𝕋`$ let $`K_t`$ denote its $`𝕋`$-isotropy and let $`𝐤_t`$ be the subset $`𝐤_t𝐧`$ of all those indexes $`i𝐧`$ for which there is a rotating circle under $`K_t`$ for $`i`$. If for every $`t𝕋`$ the order $`|𝐤_t|`$ is at least $`nk`$, then a minimizer of the $`K`$-equivariant fixed–ends (Bolza) problem is free of collisions of type $`𝐤`$, with $`|𝐤|>k`$.*

###### (10.6) Corollary.

For every $`\alpha >0`$, minimizers of the fixed-ends (Bolza) problem are free of interior collisions.

###### Proof.

If $`\alpha 2`$ this is well-known (see e.g. ). For $`\alpha (0,2)`$, it follows from (10.3) by considering a trivial $`K`$. ∎

###### (10.7) Theorem.

Let $`G`$ be a finite group acting on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. If $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ has the rotating circle property then any local minimizer of $`𝒜^G`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ does not have interior collisions.

###### Proof.

Let $`x`$ be a local minimum and consider its restriction $`x|𝕀:𝕀𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$ to a fundamental domain $`𝕀`$ as defined in (3.17). It needs be a $`K`$-equivariant minimizer for the fixed–ends problem, where $`K=\mathrm{ker}\tau `$, and by (10.3) it does not have interior collisions. ∎

###### (10.8) Corollary.

If the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is of cyclic type and $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ has the rotating circle property then any local minimizer of $`𝒜^G`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ is collisionless.

###### Proof.

If the action is of cyclic type, then there are no $`𝕋`$-isotropy groups other than $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$, and hence *a priori* no boundary collisions. ∎

###### (10.9) Corollary.

If the action of $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is of cyclic type and $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =1`$ is trivial then any local minimizer of $`𝒜^G`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ is collisionless.

###### Proof.

If $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =1`$ then $`G`$ has the rotating circle property, and hence the conclusion follows from corollary (10.9). ∎

###### (10.10) Theorem.

Consider a finite group $`G`$ acting on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ so that every maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroup of $`G`$ either has the rotating circle property or acts trivially on the index set $`𝐧`$. Then any local minimizer of $`𝒜^G`$ yields a collision-free periodic solution of the Newton equations (2.8) for the $`n`$-body problem in $`^d`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`x`$ be a local minimizer of $`𝒜^G`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$. We have two cases: either one of the $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups acts trivially on $`𝐧`$ or not. If yes, then $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ necessarily acts trivially on $`𝐧`$, and therefore $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =1`$, because otherwise the action would be reducible (see equation (3.7)). So in both cases $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ acts with the rotating circle property and Theorem (10.7) can be applied, and hence the minimizer $`x`$ does not have interior collisions.

Assume that at time $`t_0𝕋`$ a (boundary) collision occurs. Let $`𝐤𝐧`$ be a colliding cluster and $`\overline{q}`$ a corresponding (right) blow-up. First assume that the $`𝕋`$-isotropy $`H_0`$ of $`t_0`$ has rotating circle property (10.1). Let $`H`$ be the subgroup of $`H_0`$ defined by $`H=\{gG|gt_0=t_0\text{ and }g𝐤=𝐤\}`$. As in the proof of (10.3), one just needs to show that there is $`\delta 𝒳_𝐤^H`$ such that $`𝒜(\overline{q}+v^\delta )<𝒜(\overline{q})`$ (since in this case the variation $`v^\delta `$ for the right blow-up can be extended to give rise to an equivariant variation in $`𝕋`$). But this follows from the fact that, since a maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy has the rotating circle property (10.1), so $`H`$ does. On the other hand, if $`H_0`$ acts trivially on $`𝐧`$, then $`H=H_0`$ and $`dimV^H>0`$ (otherwise $`x`$ would be bound to collisions). As above, let $`𝐤𝐧`$ a colliding cluster and $`\overline{q}`$ a blow-up, with $`\overline{q}_i(t)=t^{2/(2+\alpha )}\xi _i`$ for some $`\xi _iV`$, for $`i𝐤`$. Let $`\pi :VV^H`$ denote the projection $`\pi (p)=|H|^1_{gH}gp`$. Consider an index $`i`$ such that $`|\pi (\xi _i)||\pi (\xi _j)|`$ for every $`j𝐤`$ and define

$$\delta _j=\{\begin{array}{cc}\lambda \pi (\xi _i)\hfill & \text{ if }j=i\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }ji\hfill \end{array}$$

if $`\pi (\xi _i)0`$, or

$$\delta _j=\{\begin{array}{cc}\lambda e\hfill & \text{ if }j=i\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }ji\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`e`$ is an arbitrary nonzero vector $`eV^H`$ if $`\pi (\xi _j)=0`$ for every $`j`$. It is not difficult to show that for every $`\lambda >0`$ $`S(\xi _i\xi _j,\delta _i\delta _j)<0`$, and hence that $`𝒜(\overline{q}+v^\delta )<𝒜(\overline{q})`$ as claimed. ∎

###### (10.11) Remark.

The existence of the variations in the proof of (10.10) shows that under the same hypotheses of (10.10), paths in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ are not bound to collisions.

## 11 Examples

Some well-known periodic orbits are now shown to exist as a consequence of the results of section 10. Furthermore, some interesting examples of group actions that fulfill the hypotheses of (10.7) or (10.10) are given. A complete classification of such group actions is beyond the scope of the present paper: in this section we include only a few examples that we consider particularly significative or interesting, for the sake of illustrating the power and the limitations of the approach. Well-known examples are the celebrated Chenciner–Montgomery “eight” , Chenciner–Venturelli “Hip-Hop” solutions , Chenciner “generalized Hip-Hops” solutions , Chen’s orbit  and Terracini–Venturelli generalized Hip-Hops . One word about the pictures of planar orbits: the configurations at the boundary points of the fundamental domain $`𝕀`$ are denoted with an empty circle (starting point $`x_i(0)`$) and a black disc (ending point $`x_i(t)`$, with $`t`$ appropriate), with a label on the starting point describing the index of the particle. The trajectories of the particles with the times in $`𝕀`$ are painted as thicker lines (thus it is possible to recover the direction of the movement from $`x_i(0)`$ to $`x_i(t)`$). Unfortunately this feature was not possible with the three-dimensional images.

Also, in all the following examples but (11.4) and (11.5) existence of the orbits follows directly from the results of the paper. The existence of the orbits described in examples (11.4) and (11.5), which goes beyond the scope of this article, has been recently proved by Chen in . Thousands of other suitable actions and the corresponding orbits have been found by a special-purpose computer program based on GAP .

###### (11.1)Choreographies

Consider the cyclic group $`G=_n`$ of order $`n`$ acting trivially on $`V`$, with a cyclic permutation of order $`n`$ on the index set $`𝐧=\{1,\mathrm{},n\}`$ and with a rotation of angle $`2\pi /n`$ on the time circle $`𝕋`$. Since $`𝒳^G=0`$, by (4.1) the action functional $`𝒜^G`$ is coercive. Moreover, since the action of $`G`$ on $`𝕋`$ is of cyclic type and $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =1`$, by (10.8) the minimum exists and it has no collisions. For several numerical results and a description of choreographies we refer the reader to . Recently V. Barrutello and the second author have proved that in any dimension the minima with just the choreographic cyclic symmetry are just rotating regular polygons (see also , 4.2.(i)).

###### (11.2)

Let $`n`$ be odd. Consider the dihedral group $`G=D_{2n}`$ of order $`2n`$, with the presentation $`G=<g_1,g_2|g_1^2=g_2^n=(g_1g_2)^2=1>`$. Let $`\tau `$ be the homomorphism defined by $`\tau (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right]`$, and $`\tau (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{n}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{n}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{n}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{n}\end{array}\right]`$. Furthermore, let the homomorphism $`\rho `$ be defined by $`\rho (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$ and $`\rho (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$. Finally, let $`G`$ act on $`𝐧`$ by the homomorphism $`\sigma `$ defined as $`\sigma (g_1)=(1,n1)(2,n2)\mathrm{}((n1)/2,(n+1)/2)`$, $`\sigma (g_2)=(1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$, where $`(i_1,i_2,\mathrm{},i_k)`$ means the standard cycle-decomposition notation for permutation groups. By the action of $`g_2`$ it is easy to show that all the loops in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ are choreographies, and thus that, since $`𝒳^G=0`$, the action functional is coercive. The maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups are the subgroups of order $`2`$ generated by the elements $`g_1g_2^i`$ with $`i=0\mathrm{}n1`$. Since they are all conjugated, it is enough to show that one of them acts with the rotating circle property. Thus consider $`H=<g_1>G`$. For every index $`i\{1,2,\mathrm{},n1\}`$ the isotropy $`H_iH`$ relative to the action of $`H`$ on $`𝐧`$ is trivial, and $`g_1`$ acts by rotation on $`V=^2`$. Therefore for every $`i\{1,2,\mathrm{},n1\}`$ it is possible to choose a circle rotating under $`H`$ for $`i`$, since, being $`H_i`$ trivial (see definition (9.4)), $`V^{H_i}=V`$. The resulting orbits are not homographic (since all the particles pass through the origin $`0`$ at some time of the trajectory and the configurations are centered). For $`n=3`$ this is the *eight with less symmetry* of . See also . Possible trajectories are shown in figures 2 and 2.

###### (11.3)

As in the previous example, let $`n3`$ be an odd integer. Let $`G=C_{2n}_2+_n`$ be the cyclic group of order $`2n`$, presented as $`G=<g_1,g_2|g_1^2=g_2^n=g_1g_2g_1^1g_2^1=1>`$. The action of $`G`$ on $`𝕋`$ is given by $`\tau (g_1g_2)=\theta _{2n}`$, where $`\theta _{2n}`$ denotes the rotation of angle $`\pi /n`$ (hence the action will be of cyclic type). Now, $`G`$ can act on the plane $`V=^2`$ by the homomorphism $`\rho `$ defined by $`\rho (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$ and $`\rho (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$. Finally, the action of $`G`$ on $`𝐧=\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\}`$ is given by the homomorphism $`\sigma :G\mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$ defined by $`\sigma (g_1)=()`$, $`\sigma (g_2)=(1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$. The cyclic subgroup $`H_2=<g_2>G`$ gives the symmetry constraints of the choreographies, hence loops in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ are choreographies and the functional is coercive. Furthermore, since the action is of cyclic type, by (10.8) the minimum of the action functional is collisionless. It is possible that such minima coincide with the minima of the previous example: this would imply that the symmetry group of the minimum contains the two groups above.

###### (11.4)

Consider four particles with equal masses and an odd integer $`q3`$. Let $`G=D_{4q}\times C_2`$ be the direct product of the dihedral group of order $`4q`$ with the group $`C_2`$ of order $`2`$. Let $`D_{4q}`$ be presented by $`D_{4q}=<g_1,g_2|g_1^2=g_2^{2q}=(g_1g_2)^2=1>`$, and let $`cC_2`$ be the non-trivial element of $`C_2`$. Now define the homomorphisms $`\rho `$, $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$ as follows: $`\rho (g_1)=\tau (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (g_2)=\tau (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{2q}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{2q}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{2q}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{2q}\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\sigma (g_1)=(1,2)(3,4)`$, $`\sigma (g_2)=(1,3)(2,4)`$, $`\sigma (c)=(1,2)(3,4)`$. It is not difficult to show that $`𝒳^G=0`$, and thus the action is coercive. Moreover, $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =C_2`$, which acts on $`^2`$ with the rotation of order $`2`$, hence $`\mathrm{ker}\tau `$ acts with the rotating circle property. Thus, by (10.7) the minimizer exists and does not have interior collisions. To exclude boundary collisions we cannot use (10.10), since the maximal $`𝕋`$-isotropy subgroups do not act with the rotating circle property. A possible graph for such a minimum can be found in figure 4, for $`q=3`$ (one needs to prove that the minimum is not the homographic solution – with a level estimate – and that there are no boundary collisions – with an argument similar to ). See also  for an updated and much generalized treatment of such orbits.

###### (11.5)

Consider four particles with equal masses and an even integer $`q4`$. Let $`G=D_q\times C_2`$ be the direct product of the dihedral group of order $`2q`$ with the group $`C_2`$ of order $`2`$. Let $`D_{4q}`$ be presented by $`D_{4q}=<g_1,g_2|g_1^2=g_2^q=(g_1g_2)^2=1>`$, and let $`cC_2`$ be the non-trivial element of $`C_2`$. As in example (11.4), define the homomorphisms $`\rho `$, $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$ as follows. $`\rho (g_1)=\tau (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$,$`\rho (g_2)=\tau (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{q}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{q}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{q}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{q}\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\sigma (g_1)=(1,2)(3,4)`$,$`\sigma (g_2)=(1,3)(2,4)`$, $`\sigma (c)=(1,2)(3,4)`$ Again, one can show that a minimizer without interior collisions exists since $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =C_2`$ acts with the rotating circle property (a possible minimizer is shown in figure 6). This generalizes Chen’s orbit . See also .

###### (11.6)Hip-hops

If $`G=_2`$ is the group of order $`2`$ acting trivially on $`𝐧`$, acting with the antipodal map on $`V=^3`$ and on the time circle $`𝕋`$, then again $`𝒳^G=0`$, so that (4.1) holds. Furthermore, since the action is of cyclic type proposition (10.8) assures that minimizers have no collisions. Such minimizers were called *generalized Hip-Hops* in . See also . A subclass of symmetric trajectories leads to a generalization of such a Hip-Hop. Let $`n4`$ an even integer. Consider $`n`$ particles with equal masses, and the group $`G=C_n\times C_2`$ direct product of the cyclic group of order $`n`$ (with generator $`g_1`$) and the group $`C_2`$ of order $`2`$ (with generator $`g_2`$). Let the homomorphisms $`\rho `$, $`\sigma `$ and $`\tau `$ be defined by $`\rho (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{n}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{n}& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{n}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{n}& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\sigma (g_1)=(1,2,3,4)`$, $`\sigma (g_2)=()`$ It is easy to see that $`𝒳^G=0`$, and thus a minimizer exists. Since the action is of cyclic type, it suffices to exclude interior collisions. But this follows from the fact that $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =C_n`$ has the rotating circle property. This example is the natural generalization of the Hip-Hop solution of  to $`n4`$ bodies. We can see the trajectories in figure 6.

###### (11.7)

Consider the direct product $`G=D_6\times C_3`$ of the dihedral group $`D_6`$ (with generators $`g_1`$ and $`g_2`$ of order $`3`$ and $`2`$ respectively) of order $`6`$ and the cyclic group $`C_3`$ of order $`3`$ generated by $`cC_3`$. Let us consider the planar $`n`$-body problem with $`n=6`$ with the symmetry constraints given by the following $`G`$-action. $`\rho (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\sigma (g_1)=(1,3,2)(4,5,6)`$, $`\sigma (g_2)=(1,4)(2,5)(3,6)`$, $`\sigma (c)=(1,2,3)(4,5,6)`$. By (4.1) one can prove that a minimizer exists, and since $`G`$ acts with the rotating circle property (actually, the elements of the image of $`\rho `$ are rotations) on $`𝕋`$-maximal isotropy subgroups, the conclusion of theorem (10.10) holds. It is not difficult to see that configurations in $`𝒳^{\mathrm{ker}\tau }`$ are given by two centered equilateral triangles. Now, to guarantee that the minimizer is not a homographic solution, of course it suffices to show that there are no homographic solutions in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ (like in the case of example (11.2)). This follows from the easy observation that at some times $`t𝕋`$ with maximal isotropy it happens that $`x_1=x_4`$, $`x_2=x_5`$ and $`x_3=x_6`$, while at some other times it happens that $`x_1=x_5`$, $`x_2=x_6`$ and $`x_3=x_4`$ or that $`x_1=x_6`$, $`x_2=x_4`$ and $`x_3=x_5`$ and this implies that there are no homographic loops in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$. With no difficulties the same action can be defined for $`n=2k`$, where $`k`$ is any odd integer. We can see a possible trajectory in figure 8. Also, it is not difficult to consider a similar example in dimension $`3`$. With $`n=6`$ and the notation of $`D_6`$ and $`C_3`$ as above, consider the group $`G=D_6\times C_3\times C_2`$. Let $`g_1`$, $`g_2`$, $`c`$ be as above, and let $`c_2`$ be the generator of $`C_2`$. The homomorphisms $`\rho `$, $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$ are defined in a similar way by $`\rho (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (c)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\rho (c_2)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (g_1)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{3}\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (g_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (c_2)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\sigma (g_1)=(1,3,2)(4,5,6)`$, $`\sigma (g_2)=(1,4)(2,5)(3,6)`$, $`\sigma (c)=(1,2,3)(4,5,6)`$, $`\sigma (c_2)=()`$. In the resulting collisionless minimizer (again, it follows by (4.1) and (10.10)) two equilateral triangles rotate in opposite directions and have a “brake” motion on the third axis. The likely shape of the trajectories can be found in figure 8.

###### (11.8)

Let $`k2`$ be an integer, and consider the cyclic group $`G=C_{6k}`$ of order $`6k`$ generated by the element $`cG`$. Now consider orbits for $`n=3`$ bodies in the space of dimension $`d=3`$. With a minimal effort and suitable changes the example can be generalized for every $`n3`$. We leave the details to the reader. The homomorphisms $`\rho `$, $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$ are defined by $`\rho (c)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{\pi }{k}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{\pi }{k}& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{\pi }{k}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{\pi }{k}& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, $`\tau (c)=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{6k}& \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{6k}\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{6k}& \mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi }{6k}\end{array}\right]`$, $`\sigma (c)=(1,2,3)`$. Straightforward calculations show that $`𝒳^G=0`$ and hence proposition (4.1) can be applied. Furthermore, the action is of cyclic type with $`\mathrm{ker}\tau =1`$, and hence by (10.8) the minimizer does not have collisions. It is left to show that this minimum is not a homographic motion. The only homographic motion in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$ is a Lagrange triangle $`y(t)=(y_1,y_2,y_3)(t)`$, rotating with angular velocity $`32k`$ (assume that the period is $`2\pi `$, i.e. that $`T=|𝕋|=2\pi `$) in the plane $`u_3=0`$ (let $`u_1,u_2,u_3`$ denote the coordinates in $`^3`$). To be a minimum it needs to be inscribed in the horizontal circle of radius $`(\frac{\alpha 3^{\alpha /2}}{2(32k)^2})^{1/(2+\alpha )}`$. Now, for every function $`\varphi (t)`$ defined on $`𝕋`$ such that $`\varphi (c^3t)=\varphi (t)`$, the loop given by $`v_1(t)=(0,0,\varphi (t))`$, $`v_2(t)=(0,0,\varphi (c^2t))`$ and $`v_3(t)=(0,0,\varphi (c^2t))`$ is $`G`$-equivariant, and thus belongs to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^G`$. If one computes the value of Hessian of the Lagrangian action $`𝒜`$ in $`y`$ and in the direction of the loop $`v`$ one finds that

$$D_v^2𝒜|_y=3_0^{2\pi }\dot{\varphi }^2(t)𝑑t2(32k)^2_0^{2\pi }(\varphi (t)+\varphi (ct))^2𝑑t.$$

In particular, if we set the function $`\varphi (t)=\mathrm{sin}(kt)`$, which has the desired property, elementary integration yields

$$D_v^2𝒜|_y=3\pi (k^22(32k)^2),$$

which does not depend on $`\alpha `$ and is negative for every $`k3`$. Thus for every $`k3`$ the minimizer is not homographic. We see a possible trajectory in figure 10.

###### (11.9) Remark.

In the previous example, if $`k0mod3`$, the cyclic group $`G`$ can be written as the sum $`C_3+C_{2k}`$. The generator of $`C_3`$ acts trivially on $`V`$, acts with a rotation of order $`3`$ on $`𝕋`$ and with the cyclic permutation $`(1,2,3)`$ on $`\{1,2,3\}`$. This means that for all $`k0mod3`$ the orbits of example (11.8) are non-planar choreographies. Furthermore, it is possible to define a cyclic action of the same kind by setting $`\tau `$ and $`\sigma `$ as above and $`\rho (c)=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}\frac{p}{3k}\pi & \mathrm{sin}\frac{p}{3k}\pi & 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\frac{p}{3k}\pi & \mathrm{cos}\frac{p}{3k}\pi & 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]`$, where $`p`$ is a non-zero integer. If $`p=3`$ one obtains the same action as in example (11.8). One can perform similar computations and obtain that the Lagrange orbit (with angular velocity $`p2k`$, this time) is not a minimizer for all $`(p,k)`$ such that $`0<p<3k`$ and $`k^22(p2k)^2<0`$.

###### (11.10) Remark.

We would like to conclude the article with the observation that, after (4.1) and (10.10), it is interesting to determine a classification of the $`G`$-actions on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (given by $`\rho `$, $`\sigma `$ and $`\tau `$ as in (3.3)) with the rotating circle property and such that $`𝒳^G=0`$. These conditions can be tested easily on a computer algebra system (we have used GAP  to check and find examples). Some preliminary results on such a classification can be found in  and this is the topic of a paper in preparation. Furthermore, we are planning to put on-line on a web page some animations of the periodic orbits found (in the order of hundreds, at the moment). Please contact one of the authors if interested.