Box orbit

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

In stellar dynamics a box orbit refers to a particular type of orbit which can be seen in triaxial systems, that is, systems which do not possess a symmetry around any of its axes. They contrast with the loop orbits which are observed in spherically symmetric or axisymmetric systems.

In a box orbit, the star oscillates independently along the three different axes as it moves through the system. As a result of this motion, it fills in a (roughly) box-shaped region of space. Unlike loop orbits, the stars on box orbits can come arbitrarily close to the center of the system. As a special case, if the frequencies of oscillations in different axes are exact multiples of each other, the orbit will be closed.

Examples of box orbits (in 2 dimensions)
Beginning of a box orbit Many cycles of a box orbit A closed box orbit
Beginning of a box orbit Many cycles of a box orbit A closed box orbit

References

See also

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Seeking health information online: does Wikipedia matter?