This book contains selected papers from the AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conference on Hamiltonian Systems and Celestial Mechanics held in Seattle in June 1995. The symbiotic relationship of these two topics creates a natural combination for a conference on dynamics. The topics covered include twist maps, the Aubrey-Mather theory, Arnold diffusion, qualitative and topological studies of systems, and variational methods, as well as specific topics such as Melnikov's procedure and the singularity properties of particular systems. As one of the few books that addresses both Hamiltonian systems and celestial mechanics, this volume offers emphasis on new issues and unsolved problems. Many of the papers give new results, yet the editors purposely included some exploratory papers based on numerical computations, a section on unsolved problems, and papers that pose conjectures while developing what is known. It features open research problems, and papers on central configurations.

Table of Contents:
Qualitative study of the parabolic collision restricted three-body problem by J. M. Cors and J. Llibre Singularities in the Newtonian $n$-body problem by D. G. Saari and Z. Xia A variational approach to multibump solutions of differential equations by P. H. Rabinowitz Melnikov method for autonomous Hamiltonians by C. Robinson Exponentially small transversality in the rapidly forced pendulum by N. K. Swami The collinear one-bumper two-body problem by S. R. Kaplan Limiting mass distributions of minimal potential central configurations by P. W. Lindstrom The symmetric central configurations of four equal masses by A. Albouy Central configurations in the charged three body problem by E. Perez-Chavela, D. G. Saari, A. Susin, and Z. Yan Reduction in the rotating Kepler problem and related topics by M. Kummer Asymptotic behavior of escape solutions of mechanical systems with polynomial potentials by M. Falconi and E. A. Lacomba More on the heteroclinic orbits for the monotone twist maps by Q. Wang Transition maps of homoclinic orbits and resonances near bifurcations of circle maps by T. R. Young Resonance transition and instabilities; A numerical study of the restricted three-body problem by X. Liao, D. G. Saari, and Z. Xia Directions of Hamiltonian dynamics and celestial mechanics by S. R. Kaplan, R. Cushman, S. Hu, J. Llibre, C. McCord, D. G. Saari, and Z. Xia.