The Lie–Poisson structure of the reduced n-body problem

The classical n-body problem in d-dimensional space is invariant under the Galilean symmetry group. We reduce by this symmetry group using the method of polynomial invariants. One novelty of our approach is that we do not fix the centre of mass but rather use a momentum shifting trick to change the kinetic part of the Hamiltonian to arrive at a new, dynamically equivalent Hamiltonian which is easier to reduce. As a result we obtain a reduced system with a Lie–Poisson structure which is isomorphic to sp(2n-2), independently of d. The reduction preserves the natural form of the Hamiltonian as a sum of kinetic energy that depends on velocities only and a potential that depends on positions only. This splitting allows us to construct a Poisson integrator for the reduced n-body problem which is efficient away from collisions for n = 3. In particular, we could integrate the figure eight orbit in 18 time steps. (paper)