The heterogeneous helicoseir

Abstract

We study the rotations of a heavy string (helicoseir) about a vertical axis with one free endpoint and with arbitrary density, under the action of the gravitational force. We show that the problem can be transformed into a nonlinear eigenvalue equation, as in the uniform case. The eigenmodes of this equation represent equilibrium configurations of the rotating string in which the shape of the string doesn't change with time. As previously proved by Kolodner for the homogenous case, the occurrence of new modes of the nonlinear equation is tied to the spectrum of the corresponding linear equation. We have been able to generalize this result to a class of densities $\rho(s) = \gamma (1-s)^{\gamma-1}$, which includes the homogenous string as a special case ($\gamma=1$). We also show that the solutions to the nonlinear eigenvalue equation (NLE) for an arbitrary density are orthogonal and that a solution of this equation with a given number of nodes contains solutions of a different helicoseir, with a smaller number of nodes. Both properties hold also for the homogeneous case and had not been established before.