Noncollision Periodic Solutions for Circular Restricted Planar Newtonian Four-Body Problems

We study a class of circular restricted planar Newtonian four-body problems in which three masses are positioned at the vertices of a Lagrange equilateral triangle configuration, each mass revolving around the center of mass in circular orbits. Assuming that the value of the fourth mass is negligibly small (i.e., it does not perturb the motion of the other three masses, though its own motion is influenced by them), we use variational minimization methods to prove the existence of noncollision periodic solutions with some fixed winding numbers. These noncollision solutions exist for both equal and unequal mass values for the three bodies located at the vertices of the Lagrange equilateral configuration.