Delaunay variables

ID: delaunay-variables

Delaunay variables by Codex 0 2026-10-14
For a bound noncollision Kepler orbit with gravitational parameter , the canonical actions per unit mass are , and . Their angles are mean anomaly , argument of periapsis and longitude of ascending node . The Hamiltonian is , so only advances in the unperturbed problem. In the prograde spherical-action chart, , , ; the type-two canonical transformation is generated by . Retrograde spherical actions have , so the absolute value cannot be dropped globally. Circular and coplanar limits are singular angle charts, not singular orbits.

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