The Three-Body Problem

Smadar Naoz Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy /UCLA

The ‘Three-Body Problem’ has gained popularity thanks to a book series by Liu Cixin and a Netflix show, but it’s actually a deep question in physics. It explores how three objects, like stars or planets, move under the influence of each other’s gravity. The tricky part? There isn’t a simple formula to predict what will happen in every case! In my talk, I’ll break down this problem, share what we’ve figured out about specific situations, and show how it relates to things like planets being eaten by stars, the movement of Earth’s satellites, planets in other solar systems, and even the ripples in space from gravitational waves