Index Theory for Zero Energy Solutions of the Planar Anisotropic Kepler Problem

Abstract

In the variational study of singular Lagrange systems, the zero energy solutions play an important role. In this paper we find a simple way of computing the Morse indices of these solutions for the planar anisotropic Kepler problem. In particular an interesting connection between the Morse indices and the oscillating behaviors of these solutions discovered by the physicist M. Gutzwiller is established.