Generalization of Kepler's second and third law to the group of

solutions linearly scalable from each other in the Newtonian N-body

gravitation problem

The plot of the derivation presented in this paper starts from defining a linear
scaling of a differential equation and applying it via the chain rule for
derivatives to the Newtonian N-body system and solving for a condition of
invariability of the equations. After that it is shown that the invariability of the
equations corresponds to Kepler's third and second law of planetary motion.

Definition of Linear Scaling of a Differential Equation System

du
=f  u  ,  1 
dt

where

T
u=  u 1 ,u 2 ,. .. ,u 2N  , f=  f 1 , f 2 , .. . ,f 2N  .

Linear scaling of a 2N dimensional differential equation system can be defined

with a 2N + 1 dimensional vector

α=  α0 , α1 , . .. ,α 2N   2 

that is included in linear scaling in which one scales the time and functions of
time as follows

α0
t  λ t  3a 

αi
ui  λ ui  3b 

for i = 1,2,3,...,2N and λ>0 .

The quest for a linear scaling during which the Newtonian the
Newtonian N-body differential equation system remains invariant

One condition for the system (1) to be invariant in the linear scaling defined
above (3) can be found with the chain rule. Marking for the scaled time and
α
functions of time t s =λ α t and uis =λ ui , one obtains via the chain rule
0
i

du si duis dui dt dui −α α −α du i α −α i i

s
= ⋅ ⋅ s =λ αi ⋅ ⋅λ =λ 0
⋅ =λ 0 0
⋅f i  u  .  4 
dt du i dt dt dt dt

For the differential equation system (1) to be invariant in the defined linear
scaling the system is to be valid with the scaled time and functions of time

1
 dusi
s
=f i  us   5a 
dt

which is written with (4) and (3b) as

αi −α
λ 0
 α1
f i u  =f i λ u1 ,. . . ,λ
α 2N

u2N , i=1,2 , .. . ,2 N . 5b 

In the Newtonian N-body gravitational problem the differential equation system

is of the form

du i
=f i  u  =uN+i , i=1,2, . .. ,N 6a 
dt

duN+i mj
=f N+i  u =∑  u j−ui , i= 1,2 ,. . . ,N .  6b 
dt ∥u j −ui∥

Every ui is a point in a three dimensional space. For i = 1,...,N the point ui

describes the coordinates of the i:th particle and for i=N+1, ..., 2N its velocity
vector.

Combining equations (6a) and (5b) one can derive

αi −α αi −α
λ 0
u N+i=  6a  =λ 0
 α1
f i u =  5b  = f i λ u 1 ,. . . ,λ2N u2N =  6a  =λ  α N+i
u N+i

from which the relation

α N+i =α1−α0  7 

is obtained.

Applying the chain rule condition (4) to the Newtonian equations (6b) combined
with the result (7), one can derive

dusN+i α N+i−α α i−2α m

dt s
=f N+i  u s =  4  =λ 0
f N+i  u =  7  =λ 0
∑ ∥u −uj ∥  u j−ui .  8 
j i

s
Taking into account the definition of the linearly scaled u one can write (6b)
as a scaled equation directly as

dusN+i mj
dt s
=∑ αj
∥λ u j −λ
αi
u∥
λ αj αi

u j− λ ui .  9 
i

Therefore for the Newtonian N-body differential equation system to be

invariant with respect to linear scaling, the right hand sides of (8) and (9) are to

2
equal

mj α i−2α m
∑ αj
∥λ u j −λ
αi
u∥
λ αj αi

u j − λ u i =λ 0
∑ ∥u −uj ∥  u j−ui , i= 1,2 ,. . . ,N . 10 
i j i

A solution to the equation (10) can derived by setting α i =C,i=1,2 ,. . . ,N where

C is an arbitrary constant. After a bit of algebra the sum factor cancels out of
λC C−2α 3
the equation leaving 3C =λ which is equally α 0= C . Using the condition
0

λ 2
1
(7) one finds for the i=N+1,...,2N: α N+i =αi −α0=− C . The solved parameter
2
values can be more compacty represented with a 2N+1 dimensional vector
introduced in (2) as

α=C  3
2
1 1
,1, . .. ,1 ,− . .. ,− .  11 
2, 2 
Discussion around Kepler's second and third laws

Kepler's third law is a statement derived from observations and states “The
squares of the orbital periods of planets are directly proportional to the cubes
of the semi-major-exis of the orbits.”

Assuming there is a periodical solution u  t  to an N-body Newtonian

gravitational problem with a period time T.

With the linear transformation procedure, we can find an infinite amount of

3
C
solutions from one solution. For the scaled solution the period time T s =λ 2 T
and the position coordinates uis  t s  =λ C ui  t  . Therefore for all pairs i,j of the N-
body group analyzed the quantity appearing implicitly in the Kepler's third law
remains invariant as we move from one scaled solution to another

max t∥uis  t s −u sj  t s ∥ λ3C max t ∥ui  t −u j  t ∥ max t∥ui  t  −u j  t ∥

2
= 2
= 2
.  12 
T s  λ3C  T s  T 

These constants depending on selected i and j can be summed over all the
particle pairs to

∑ ∑ max t∥ui  t  −u j  t ∥=Constant⋅T 2 .  13

which holds for all scaled solutions with coordinates u  t  and period time T.

This is somewhat similar to the Kepler's third law which holds for every
planetary orbit as it is law that holds remains constant between different

3
solutions.

Keplers second law states that "A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out
equal areas during equal intervals of time.” which can be represented with
mathematical symbols as

dt 2
d 1 2
r θ̇  14

The correspondence to this particular law can be shown to hold within the
group of solutions linearly scalable from each other as follows. We study a
quantity obtainable by an educated guess and look at its derivative with
respect to the scaled time and use the chain rule and the conditions for
invariability with respect to linear scaling. Marking the constant in time
present in the Kepler's second law by

2
g  u =∥u i  t −u j t ∥ ∥u̇ i  t −u̇ j t ∥. 15

We can write its derivative with respect to the scaled time

3
− C
d d s dt d
s
g  u s
 = g  u  s
= g  us
 λ 2
16
dt dt dt dt

finishing the calculation with (3b) and (11)

1
d d 2 d 2C 2 − C
g  u s = ∥u si  t s  −usj  t s ∥ ∥u̇is  t s −u̇ sj  t s ∥= λ ∥u i  t −u j  t ∥ λ 2 ∥u̇i  t −u̇ j  t ∥ 17
dt dt dt

which yields

d d
s
g  u s = g  u  . 18
dt dt .

We have thus shown that the constant present in Keplers second law appears
in similar fashion in every scaled solution. In a two body system with one large
object the quanity is constant as Kepler derived from observations.