THE STROBOSCOPIC METHOD APPLIED TO THE STELLAR 3-BODY PROBLEM - THE KEPLERIAN OUTER ORBIT APPROXIMATION

This article discusses the stellar three-body problem using an approximation in which the outer orbit is assumed to be Keplerian. The equations of motion are integrated by the stroboscopic method, i.e., basically at successive periods of a rapidly changing variable (the eccentric anomaly of the inner orbit). The theory is applied to the triple-star system xi Ursae Majoris. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.