Lectures on Celestial Mechanics

The present book represents to a large extent the translation of the German 'Vorlesungen uber Himmelsmechanik' by C. L. Siegel. The demand for a new edition and for an English translation gave rise to the present volume which, however, goes beyond a mere translation. To take account of recent work in this field a number of sections have been added, especially in the third chapter which deals with the stability theory. Still, it has not been attempted to give a complete presentation of the subject, and the basic prganization of Siegel's original book has not been altered. The emphasis lies in the development of results and analytic methods which are based on the ideas of H. Poincare, G. D. Birkhoff, A. Liapunov and, as far as Chapter I is concerned, on the work of K. F. Sundman and C. L. Siegel. In recent years the measure-theoretical aspects of mechanics have been revitalized and have led to new results which will not be discussed here. In this connection we refer, in particular, to the interesting book by V. I. Arnold and A. Avez on 'Problemes Ergodiques de la Mecanique Classique', which stresses the interaction of ergodic theory and mechanics. We list the points in which the present book differs from the German text. In the first chapter two sections on the tri pie collision in the three- body problem have been added by C. L. Siegel.