On the central configurations of the planar restricted four-body problem

This article is devoted to answering several questions about the central configurations of the planar (3 + 1)-body problem. Firstly, we study bifurcations of central configurations, proving the uniqueness of convex central configurations up to symmetry. Secondly, we settle the finiteness problem in the case of two nonzero equal masses. Lastly, we provide all the possibilities for the number of symmetrical central configurations, and discuss their bifurcations and spectral stability. Our proofs are based on applications of rational parametrizations and computer algebra. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.