Stability of the regular $n$-gon rotating equilibria with logarithm interaction

Abstract

We study the linear stability of regular $n$-gon rotating equilibria in the $n$-body problem with logarithm interaction. In the presence of a central mass $M$, linear stability is insured if $M$ is bounded below and above by constants depending on the number and mass of the (equal) outer $n$ bodies. Moreover, we provide explicit equations of these bounds. In the absence of a central mass we find that the regular $n$-gon is linearly stable for $n =2,3,\ldots 6$ only.