Abstract:We first take into account variational problems with periodic boundary conditions, and briefly recall some sufficient conditions for a periodic solution of the Euler-Lagrange equation to be either a directional, a weak, or a strong local minimizer. We then apply the theory to circular orbits of the Kepler problem with potentials of type 1/r α , α > 0. By using numerical computations, we show that circular solutions are strong local minimizers for α > 1, while they are saddle points for α ∈ (0, 1). Moreover, we… Show more
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