ELEMENTARY COLLISION EVENTS IN THE PROBLEM OF 3 GRAVITATING BODIES - DYNAMICAL INSTABILITY AND INDICATIONS OF CHAOS

The special case of a symmetric encounter of three gravitating points is considered. It is shown that in this problem there is a critical va lue for the mass of the central body (m(c) = 55m/4) to which the two o ther bodies of equal masses m approach from different sides. If the ma ss exceeds the critical mass, the response of the central body to the encounter with the other bodies is qualitatively regular. Otherwise, t he sensitivity to initial conditions is high and leads to dynamical in stability and the possibility of chaos.