On central configurations of the κn-body problem

Abstract

We consider planar central configurations of the Newtonian κn-body problem consisting in κ groups of regular n-gons of equal masses, called (κ,n)-crown. We derive the equations of central configurations for a general (κ,n)-crown. When κ=2 we prove the existence of a twisted (2,n)-crown for any value of the mass ratio. Moreover, for n=3,4 and any value of the mass ratio, we give the exact number of twisted (2,n)-crowns, and describe their location. Finally, we conjecture that for any value of the mass ratio there exist exactly three (2,n)-crowns for n≥5