Three-Body Coulomb Problem

time

10.

q

1

0.5

q

2

-1

q

3

1

v

1

v

2

v

3

Closely related to the three-body gravitational problem is the classical, nonrelativistic three-body Coulomb problem, in which the forces between the bodies can be either attractive or repulsive, depending on the signs of the charges. Applications include studies of the quantum mechanical limit of helium-like two-electron ions and collisions between atoms and charged particles.