Laplace and the development of celestial mechanics

B alint Erdi Department of Astronomy E otv os University, Budapest

1.

Introduction

Celestial mechanics begins with Newtons Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, published in 1687, containing the law of universal gravitation, the foundation of celestial mechanics: All matter attracts all other matter with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The Principia was published in Latin language three times (1687, 1713, 1725) and then in English in 1727. Later the translations of this English edition appeared in dierent European languages. Newton (1643-1727) solved fully the two-body problem and explained a wide range of previously unrelated phenomena: the eccentric orbits of comets, the tides and their variations, the precession of the Earths rotational axis, and the motion of the Moon as perturbed by the Sun. The further development of celestial mechanics continued only in the middle of the XVIIIth century, mainly due to the work of L. Euler (1707-1783), A. C. Clairaut (1713-1765), J. L. R. dAlembert (1717-1783), J. L. Lagrange (17361813), and P. S. Laplace (1749-1827). At that time there were several practical problems which needed theoretical solutions. It was a great demand for precise Lunar tables to help the determination of the positions of ships in the oceans. For this purpose precise tables of the brightest planets could also have been used. It was also necessary to determine the exact gure of the Earth and its precise rotation for the exact measurement of time. These were the main problems that Newtons followers had to cope with. Due to the eorts of the above mentioned eminent scientists the development of celestial mechanics was so quick that by the end of the century this part of astronomy became a new discipline, having its own name celestial mechanics, invented by Laplace.

2.

Golden moments of celestial mechanics

The rst classical work of celestial mechanics was published by Euler in 1744 in Berlin on the theory of motion of the planets and comets. From this time on the Academies of Berlin, Paris, and St.Petersburg published almost continuously the memoires of the ve scientist.

2.1.

Lunar theories

1746, Euler published not to precise Lunar tables. 1747, Clairaut and dAlembert submitted their own works on the theory of motion of the Moon on the same day to the Paris Academy of Sciences. However, they had diculties with the explanation of the motion of the perigee of the Moons orbit. 1752, Clairaut received the prize of the St.Petersburg Academy for his Lunar theory. 1753, Eulers rst Lunar theory. Here appears the method of the variation of arbitrary constans. T. Mayer (1723-1762) compared Eulers tables with the observations and improved the tables so well that he and Euler received the prize of the English sovereign. 1754, Clairaut and dAlembert published their own Lunar theories and tables. 1772, Eulers second Lunar theory. Here appears the method of trigonometric series with unknown coecients for the solution of the equations of motion (written in a uniformly rotating coordinate system). 1773, Lagranges paper on the secular acceleration of the Moon. 1787, Laplace pointed out that the secular acceleration of the Moon is a consequence of the secular variation of the eccentricity of the Earths orbit due to the perturbing eects of the other planets.

2.2.

Planetary theories

1748, 1752. The rst steps to calculate planetary perturbations was also made by Euler. He computed the mutual perturbations of Jupiter and Saturn, and by these works he won the prizes of the Paris Academy of Sciences. He applied the method of the variation of arbitrary constants, however, the equations were not general enough. He also made the rst steps towards the development of the perturbing function into a series. 1766, Lagranges rst memoir on the mutual perturbations of Jupiter and Saturn. Seemingly not knowing about Eulers work, he newly discovered the method of the variation of arbitrary constants. He fully developed this 2

method in his prize-winning work on the perturbations of comets moving in elliptic orbits. 1773, Laplace submitted his rst memoir to the Paris Academy (at the age of 24!) proving his famous theory on the non-existence of rst order secular perturbations in the semi-major axes of the planets. From this theorem seemingly the stability of the Solar System follows. 1774, 1776. Lagrange generalized Laplaces theorem up to the 7th power of the orbital eccentricity and inclination of the planets (Laplace went only to the second powers). Later Lagrange and Laplace at the same time, but independently from each other developed the trigonometric theory of secular perturbations of the planets showing that an approximate solution for the osculating orbital elements can be obtained without secular terms. The theory was named Lagrange-theory, but now it is known as the Laplace-Lagrange theory of secular perturbations and has a great importance in giving the fundamental secular planetary frequences.

2.3.

Other major works

1772, Lagranges work on the general three-body problem won the prize of the Paris Academy, shared with Euler. He reduced the equations of motion to 7th order and found the ve exact particular solutions now named as the Lagrangian solutions of the three-body problem. However, from the 5 solutions the 3 collinear cases were already found by Euler in 1767 and, under more general conditions, to these Lagrange found the 2 triangular solutions. Interestingly, Lagrange did not consider much importance of these solutions (Cette recherche nest a ` la v erit e que de pure curiosit e . . . ). However, these solutions later played an important role in the development of the qualitative methods of celestial mechanics, and also many real examples in the Solar System have been found. Lagrange developed series expansions of the elliptic motion in the twobody problem. Laplace studied the convergence of these series pointing out that they are absolute convergent below a value 0.6627. . . of the eccentricity (Laplace limit). Lagranges works were collected at the end of the XIXth century and were published in Paris in 14 volumes, 3 of which refer to celestial mechanics. Laplaces works were collected and published by Laplace himself. We did not consider here the theories of the gure of the Earth and the rotation of celestial bodies. However, Clairaut, dAlembert, Euler, Lagrange and Laplace works made a foundation for the theory of the rotation of the planets, and as an application they developed the theory of precession and nutation of the Earths rotational axis, and the theory of the libration of the Moon.

3.

Lagranges Analytical Mechanics

Lagranges famous book, the M ecanique Analitique which he had written in Berlin, was published in Paris in 1788. It had been approved for publication by a commettee of the Academy of Sciences in which Laplace and Legendre were members. Actually, Legendre acted as an editor for the work doing proofreading and other tasks. This book summarized all the work done in the eld of mechanics since the time of Newton and is notable for its use of the teory of dierential equations. With this work Lagrange transformed mechanics into a branch of mathematical analysis. The book contains the basic ideas and methods of mechanics, which also can be applied to celestial mechanics. From the point of view of celestial mechanics the most interesting part of the book is the 7th Chapter of Part II: On the motion of a system consisting of free bodies considered as mass points under their mutual gravitational forces. This chapter gives the complete analytical solution of the two-body problem and series developments of the elliptic motion. It gives the solution of Keplers equation by using the Lagranges series. Other major themes of the chapter: determination of the orbital elements from the initial conditions or from observations; investigation of the perturbations by using the method of the variation of arbitrary constants; derivation of Lagranges planetary equations; theory of secular perturbations.

4.

Laplaces Celestial Mechanics

By the end of the XVIIIth century the subject of celestial mechanics was dened and this part of astronomy obtained its own name. The rst volume of Laplaces monumental work, the Trait e de M ecanique C eleste was published in 1798. In the preface of the book Laplace wrote: At the end of the last century Newton established the law of universal gravitation. From that time on scientists tried to explain all known phenomena of nature by this important law and so improve the theories and make astronomical tables unforeseenly precise. It is my purpose that these theories, appearing in many works, be treated from a unied point of view. These theories, dealing with the consequences of the gravitational attraction on the motions and equilibrium of the solid or liquid bodies forming the Solar System or other similar systems spread in the immense universe, form celestial mechanics. Though Laplace stated that celestial mechanics considers gravitational forces, he did not restrict himself only to gravitation but also considered other forces, for example resisting force in a medium. This later proved to be very useful, for example for the treatment of atmospheric perturbations of articial satellites of the Earth. It is also interesting to note that Laplace also cosidered the

possibility of other planetary systems, and now that we know more than a hundred exoplanetary systems we can see that he was quite right. Part I of Laplaces book has the title General theory of the motion and gure of celestial bodies. It consists of two volumes, both published in 1798. Volum 1 consists of two books: Book 1: General laws of equlibrium and motion, Book 2: On the law of universal gravitation and the movement of the centre of gravity of celestial bodies. Here appears the potential theory, Laplace equation, perturbation theory, and stability of the Solar System. Volume 2 consists of three books: Book 3: On the gure of celestial bodies. Here appears the Laplace series of the potential function according to spherical harmonics, and applications to the gure of the Earth and the rings of Saturn. Book 4: On the oscillations of the oceans and the atmosphere (theory of tides), Book 5: On the motion of celestial bodies around their centre of gravity (theory of rotation of the Earth, theory of precession and nutation). Part II has the title Particular theories of celestial motions and it was dedicated to Napoleon, Citoyen Premier Consul. It consists of two volumes, Volume 3 published in 1802, and Volume 4 published in 1805. Volume 3 consists of two books: Book 6: Theory of planetary motions (theories for all known planets, with explicit analytical formulas for all planetary perturbations), Book 7: Lunar theory (he considers also the perturbations coming from the non-spherical mass distribution of the Earth and the Moon). Volume 4 consists of three books: Book 8: Theory of the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus (considering mainly the Galilean satellites of Jupiter), Book 9: Theory of comets (perturbations of periodic comets), Book 10: On dierent questions of the system of the Universe (refraction, barometric equilibrium, and other problems not belonging to celestial mechanics). It should be mentioned that each book of this monumental work contains Laplaces own contributions to celestial mechanics, with no references to other peoples works. The books are dicult to read, since they do not contain detailed derivations and explanations. References to other works was made only in the 5th volume of Laplaces work, published many years later in 1825. It consists of 6 books giving improvements to Laplaces previous theories. Each book begins with historical remarks, and these are very interesting, since they give detailed and objective insigths into the development of celestial mechanics.

5.

Epilogue

Laplace formulated several problems which have been the main themes of celestial mechanics until now, and developed the fundamental methods for their approximate solution. These problems are: Motion of the planets under the gravitational attraction of the Sun and the other planets. Motion of the Moon under the gravitational attraction of the Earth and the Sun, and considering the eects of other planets as well. 5

 Motion of the satellites of the planets under the perturbations of the Sun, the planets , and other moons. Motion of the comets under the eects of the Sun and some planets. Rotational motion of the planets, particularly the rotation of the Earth and the Moon. Theory of the gure of the planets. Theory of the tides. The two last problems are not belonging strictly to celestial mechanics now. Laplaces inuence on the development of celestial mechanics was tremendous, his methods and solutions are even now used. By all means he was one of the greatest scientists ever.