Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 54 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The conventional complete-flyby impulse approximation uses a straight incoming path , , with . Integrate the satellite's transverse acceleration over the whole encounter. For ,The hint's integral is one over a half encounter, and two over the full encounter. The leading longitudinal impulse vanishes by oddness. In weak elastic scattering, conservation of the relative speed gives the next-order change along the original velocity as . With the original outer flow along negative , this meansThe same signed expression holds for inner particles and has the opposite sign there. This is the complete-flyby gravitational impulse. Its weak-deflection requirement is . Rotation and tidal dynamics retained throughout the encounter give a more detailed response; this impulse model does not claim to solve the full Hill scattering problem exactly.
The printed coefficient is four times smaller than this complete-flyby value. It is obtained if the single-sided transverse impulse is inserted into the same quadratic longitudinal estimate, leaving out the other half. Thus the scaling and sign agree, but that numerical coefficient is not derived by the usual full-encounter prescription. To keep the subsequent requested formulas unambiguous, write the satellite impulse normalizationThe following parts are derived for general and specialize to the supplied value. The complete-flyby one-sided torque coefficient is also the normalization used in the primary coplanar impulse calculation summarized by Chametla and collaborators.