A FOURTH-ORDER SOLUTION OF THE IDEAL RESONANCE PROBLEM

The second-order solution of the Ideal Resonance Problem, obtained by Henrard and Wauthier (1988), is developed further to fourth order applying the same method. The solutions for the critical argument and the momentum are expressed in terms of elementary functions depending on the time variable of the pendulum as independent variable. This variable is related to the original time variable through a 'Kepler-equation'. An explicit solution is given for this equation in terms of elliptic integrals and functions. The fourth-order formal solution is compared with numerical solutions obtained from direct numerical integrations of the equations of motion for two specific Hamiltonians.