Pair Space in Classical Mechanics III. Some Four-Body Central Configurations

Abstract

We study central configurations in the four body problem, i.e., configurations in which the forces on all the bodies point to a fixed, single point in space. The newly formulated pair-space formalism yields a set of vectorial equations that fully characterize such configurations. We investigate a sub-class of solutions in which at least two pairs of inter-body distances are equal. The only such non-collinear configurations are the tetrahedron (the unique non-planar configuration), kites and the isosceles trapezium. The specific shapes (internal angles) are determined by the ratio of the masses of the bodies. Mathematical expression are given for all these relations.