APS -APS March Meeting 2017 - Event - Sliding on a spinning asteroid (geodesics on a rotating ellipsoid)

摘要

We computationally study the motion of a mass sliding on the surface of a rotating asteroid, with or without gravity, idealized as geodesics on a rotating ellipsoid. We identify qualitatively different families of motion, including chaotic and periodic motions, which generate visually striking patterns. We summarize the effects of gravity and spin on the dynamics.