Research into Orbital Motion Stability in System of Two Magnetically Interacting Bodies

Abstract

The stability of the orbital motion of two long cylindrical magnets interacting exclusively with magnetic forces is described. To carry out analytical studies a model of magnetically interacting symmetric tops [1] is used. The model was previously developed within the quasi-stationary approach for an electromagnetic field based on the general expression of the energy of interacting magnetic bodies [2]. A special role in the investigation of the stability of orbital motions is played by the so-called relative equilibria [3], i.e. the trajectories of the system dynamics which are at the same time one-parameter subgroups of the system invariance group. Nowadays their stability is normally investigated using two similar approaches -- energy-momentum and energy-Casimir methods. The most suitable criterion for the system stability investigation was formulated in the theorem of [4]; this stability criterion successfully generalizes both the methods mentioned above and covers the Hamiltonian formalism based on Poisson structures [1]. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the circular orbit stability are derived from this theorem.