A Coriolis force in an inertial frame. (3rd February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kirillov, Oleg; Levi, Mark
• Is Part Of: Nonlinearity. Volume 30:Number 3(2017:Mar.)
• Page Start: 1109
• Page End: 1119
• Publication Date: 2017-02-03
• Subjects: Coriolis force -- rotating potentials -- contact transformations; 37J25 -- 37J40 -- 70F99; Nonlinear theories -- Periodicals; Mathematical analysis -- Periodicals; Mathematical analysis; Nonlinear theories; Periodicals; 515
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6544/aa59a0
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-7715

Abstract

Abstract: Particles in rotating saddle potentials exhibit precessional motion which, up to now, has been explained by explicit computation. We show that this precession is due to a hidden Coriolis-like force which, unlike the standard Coriolis force, is present in the inertial frame. We do so by finding a hodograph-like 'guiding center' transformation using the method of normal form. We also point out that the transformation cannot be of contact type in principle, thus showing that the standard (in applied literature) heuristic averaging obscures the fact that the transformation of the position must involve the velocity.