The Possibility of Capture in the Restricted Problem of Three Bodies and Formation of Bridges Between Galaxies

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Abstract
An investigation is made of the possibility of capture process where a planet of negligible mass, initially in Keplerian orbit about a star, is perturbed by a passing star with hyperbolic velocity at great distance and becomes a planet of the star escaping to infinity with it. It is shown that this process occurs under a fairly wide range of initial conditions. If a galaxy is represented by a heavy nucleus and a disk part with negligible mass compared with the nucleus, the process of capture makes it possible for a passing galaxy to extract a fraction of mass originally in the disk. A stream of material is thus formed between the galaxies and as the passing galaxy recedes, the stream takes the form of an arm or a bridge extending from one galaxy to another. It is also shown that the conditions under which galactic encounters take place are favourable for the capture to occur.

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