Central Configurations and Mutual Differences

Abstract

Central configurations are solutions of the equations λmjqj=∂U/∂qj, where U denotes the potential function and each qj is a point in the d-dimensional Euclidean space E≅Rd, for j=1,…,n. We show that the vector of the mutual differences qij=qi−qj satisfies the equation −(λ/α)q=Pm(Ψ(q)), where Pm is the orthogonal projection over the spaces of 1-cocycles and Ψ(q)=q/|q|α+2. It is shown that differences qij of central configurations are critical points of an analogue of U, defined on the space of 1-cochains in the Euclidean space E, and restricted to the subspace of 1-cocycles. Some generalizations of well known facts follow almost immediately from this approach.