Chaos in the Kepler System

Abstract

The long-term dynamical evolution of a Keplerian binary orbit due to the emission and absorption of gravitational radiation is investigated. This work extends our previous results on transient chaos in the planar case to the three dimensional Kepler system. Specifically, we consider the nonlinear evolution of the relative orbit due to gravitational radiation damping as well as external gravitational radiation that is obliquely incident on the initial orbital plane. The variation of orbital inclination, especially during resonance capture, turns out to be very sensitive to the initial conditions. Moreover, we discuss the novel phenomenon of chaotic transition.