PERTURBATION

Abstract. We introduce here the concepts of Perturbation with reference to the ancient
n-body problem and the concept of Laplaces invariable plane of a planetary system with
reference to our Solar System.

Introduction:
Perturbation is the complex motions of a massive body subject to forces other than the
gravitational attraction of a single other massive body. The other forces can include a third
(fourth, fifth, etc.) body, resistance, as from an atmosphere, and the off-center attraction of
an oblate or otherwise misshapen body.
The study of perturbations began with the first attempts to predict planetary motions in the
sky. In ancient times the causes were a mystery. Newton, at the time he formulated his laws
of motion and of gravitation, applied them to the first analysis of perturbations, recognizing
the complex difficulties of their calculation. Many of the great mathematicians since then have
given attention to the various problems involved; throughout the 18th and 19th centuries there
was demand for accurate tables of the position of the Moon and planets for marine navigation.
The complex motions of gravitational perturbations can be broken down. The hypothetical
motion that the body follows under the gravitational effect of one other body only is typically
a conic section, and can be readily described with the methods of geometry. This is called a
two-body problem, or an unperturbed Keplerian orbit. The differences between that and the
actual motion of the body are perturbations due to the additional gravitational effects of the
remaining body or bodies. If there is only one other significant body then the perturbed motion
is a three-body problem; if there are multiple other bodies it is an n-body problem. Analytical
solutions (mathematical expressions to predict the positions and motions at any future time)
for the two-body and three-body problems exist; none has been found for the n-body problem
except for certain special cases. Even the two-body problem becomes insoluble if one of the
bodies is irregular in shape.
Most systems that involve multiple gravitational attractions present one primary body which
is dominant in its effects (for example, a star, in the case of the star and its planet, or a planet,
in the case of the planet and its satellite). The gravitational effects of the other bodies can be
treated as perturbations of the hypothetical unperturbed motion of the planet or satellite
around its primary body.

Mathematical Analysis
Cowell's method:
In methods of special perturbations, numerical datasets, representing values for the positions,
velocities and accelerative forces on the bodies of interest, are made the basis of numerical
integration of the differential equations of motion. In effect, the positions and velocities are
perturbed directly, and no attempt is made to calculate the curves of the orbits or the orbital
elements. Special perturbations can be applied to any problem in celestial mechanics, as it is
not limited to cases where the perturbing forces are small. Once applied only to comets and
minor planets, special perturbation methods are now the basis of the most accurate machinegenerated planetary ephemerides of the great astronomical almanacs. Special perturbations
are also used for modeling an orbit with computers.
Cowell's method (so named for Philip H. Cowell, who, with A.C.D. Cromellin, used a
Similar method to predict the return of Halley's Comet) is perhaps the simplest of the
Special Perturbation Methods. In a system of mutually interacting bodies, this method
mathematically solves for the Newtonian forces on body by summing the individual
interactions from the other bodies:

Where,

Cowell's method. Forces from all perturbing

Is the acceleration vector of body ,

bodies are summed to form the total force on
Is the gravitational constant,
body I , and this is numerically integrated starting
from the initial position (the epoch of osculation)
Is the mass of body ,
And
are the position vectors of objects and respectively, and
Is the distance from object to object .
All vectors being referred to the barycenter of the system. This equation is resolved into
components in , , and and these are integrated numerically to form the new velocity
And position vectors. This process is repeated as many times as necessary. The advantage
Of Cowell's method is ease of application and programming. A disadvantage is that when
perturbations become large in magnitude (as when an object makes a close approach to
another) the errors of the method also become large. However, for many problems in celestial
mechanics, this is never the case. Another disadvantage is that in systems with a dominant
central body, such as the Sun, it is necessary to carry many significant digits in the arithmetic
because of the large difference in the forces of the central body and the perturbing bodies,
although with modern computers this is not nearly the limitation it once was.

Invariable Plane
One aspect of our solar system is that it is essentially a closed system. The stars are so widely
separated that it would be rare for a stray asteroid or other object from beyond the Oort cloud
to enter our solar system. This has a few consequences, one of which is the tendency for the
solar system to lie in a plane.
With a closed system, certain things are constant and unchanging. In physics, we say they are
conserved. One of these conserved things is known as angular momentum. In simple terms,
angular momentum is a measure of the amount of rotation of a system, but in actuality it is a
bit more complicated. Angular momentum not only works for rotating bodies such as the Earth
rotating on its axis, but also for collections of objects moving in different directions. For
example, each of the planets orbiting the Sun has an angular momentum about the Sun.
The orbits of all the planets dont lie within a single plane, but they are relatively close.
However, if you add the angular momenta of all the planets, (and all the asteroids, Kuiper belt,
etc) you get a total angular momentum of the solar system. Most of this angular momentum is
due to the large outer planets. Together they account for about 98% of the total angular
momentum of the solar system.
This total angular momentum can be defined by a plane known as the Invariable Plane. Its
invariable because the total angular momentum of the solar system is constant. The invariable
plane of a planetary system, also called Laplace's invariable plane, is the plane passing through
its barycenter (center of mass) perpendicular to its angular momentum vector. In the Solar
System, about 98% of this effect is contributed by the orbital angular momenta of the four
Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). The invariable plane is within 0.5 of the
orbital plane of Jupiter, and may be regarded as the weighted average of all planetary orbital
and rotational planes.
The magnitude of the orbital angular momentum vector of a planet is,
Where,
Is the orbital radius of the planet (from the barycenter),
Is the mass of the planet, and is its orbital velocity
The orbits of individual planets can change due to gravitational interactions, but the invariable
plane cant change. If the Earths orbit shifts relative to the invariable plane due to a
gravitational interaction with Jupiter, then Jupiters orbit must also shift. Individual planets can
gain or lose angular momentum, but they do so by taking it from or giving it to other planets.
Conservation of momentum also explains why the solar system (and other rotating systems like
galaxies) tends to be planar. In principle you could add up the angular momentum of every
object in the early solar system, and the total would be defined by the invariable plane. As
objects collide and merge, the angular momentum of the new object is equal to the sum of the
originals. As more and more objects collide, the sum of the larger and larger objects will tend

toward the total angular momentum of the system. So as the planets formed, they tended to
form along the invariable plane of the solar system.
If all Solar System bodies were point masses, or were rigid bodies having spherically symmetric
mass distributions, then an invariable plane defined on orbits alone would be truly invariable
and would constitute an inertial frame of reference. But almost all are not, allowing the transfer
of a very small amount of momenta from axial rotations to orbital revolutions due to tidal
friction and to bodies being non-spherical. This causes a change in the magnitude of the orbital
angular momentum, as well as a change in its direction (precession) because the rotational axes
are not parallel to the orbital axes. Nevertheless, these changes are exceedingly small
compared to the total angular momenta of the system (which is conserved despite these
effects, ignoring the even much tinier amounts of angular momentum ejected in material and
gravitational waves leaving the Solar System, and the extremely tiny torques exerted on the
Solar System by other stars, etc.), and for almost all purposes the plane defined on orbits alone
can be considered invariable when working in Newtonian dynamics.

Inclination
Inclination to the
invariable plane for
Name
Inclination Inclination Inclination
the gas giants:

Terrestrials

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune

Gas giants

Year
2009
142400
168000

Jupiter
0.32
0.48
0.23

Saturn
0.93
0.79
1.01

to
ecliptic

to Sun's
equator

7.01
3.39
0
1.85
1.31
2.49
0.77
1.77

3.38
3.86
7.155
5.65
6.09
5.51
6.48
6.43

Uranus
1.02
1.04
1.12

Neptune
0.72
0.55
0.55

to
invariable
plane
6.34
2.19
1.57
1.67
0.32
0.93
1.02
0.72

Conclusion:
In the Solar System, many of the disturbances of one planet by another are periodic, consisting
of small impulses each time a planet passes another in its orbit. This causes the bodies to follow
motions that are periodic or quasi-periodic such as the Moon in its strongly perturbed orbit,
which is the subject of lunar theory. This periodic nature led to the discovery of Neptune in
1846 as a result of its perturbations of the orbit of Uranus.
On-going mutual perturbations of the planets cause long-term quasi-periodic variations in their
orbital elements, most apparent when two planets' orbital periods are nearly in sync. For
instance, five orbits of Jupiter (59.31 years) is nearly equal to two of Saturn (58.91 years). This
causes large perturbations of both, with a period of 918 years, the time required for the small
difference in their positions at conjunction to make one complete circle, first discovered by
Laplace.[2] Venus currently has the orbit with the least eccentricity, i.e. it is the closest to
circular, of all the planetary orbits. In 25,000 years' time, Earth will have a more circular (less
eccentric) orbit than Venus. It has been shown that long-term periodic disturbances within the
Solar System can become chaotic over very long time scales; under some circumstances one or
more planets can cross the orbit of another, leading to collisions.
The orbits of many of the minor bodies of the Solar System, such as comets, are often heavily
perturbed, particularly by the gravitational fields of the gas giants. While many of these
perturbations are periodic, others are not, and these in particular may represent aspects of
chaotic motion. For example, in April 1996, Jupiter's gravitational influence caused the period
of Comet HaleBopp's orbit to decrease from 4,206 to 2,380 years, a change that will not revert
on any periodic basis.