Orbital dynamics in the photogravitational restricted four-body problem: Lagrange configuration

Abstract

We study the effect of the radiation parameter in the location, stability and orbital dynamics in the Lagrange configuration of the restricted four-body problem when one of the primaries is a radiating body. The equations of motion for the test particle are derived by assuming that the primaries revolve in the same plane with uniform angular velocity, and regardless of their mass distribution, they will always lie at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. The insertion of the radiation factor in the restricted four-body problem, let us model more realistically the dynamics of a test particle orbiting an astrophysical system with an active star. The dynamical mechanisms responsible for the smoothening on the basin structures of the configuration space is related to the decrease in the total number of fixed points with increasing values of the radiation parameter. In our model of the Sun-Jupiter-Trojan Asteroid system, it is found that despite the repulsive character of the solar radiation pressure, there exist two stable libration points roughly located at the position ofL 4 and L 5 in the Sun-Jupiter system.