English

Illumination problems on translation surfaces with planar infinities

Metric Geometry 2011-05-17 v1 Computational Geometry Dynamical Systems

Abstract

In the current article we discuss an illumination problem proposed by Urrutia and Zaks. The focus is on configurations of finitely many two-sided mirrors in the plane together with a source of light placed at an arbitrary point. In this setting, we study the regions unilluminated by the source. In the case of rational-π\pi angles between the mirrors, a planar configuration gives rise to a surface with a translation structure and a number of planar infinities. We show that on a surface of this type with at least two infinities, one can find plenty of unilluminated regions isometric to unbounded planar sectors. In addition, we establish that the non-bijectivity of a certain circle map implies the existence of unbounded dark sectors for rational planar mirror configurations illuminated by a light-source.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1105.2972,
  title  = {Illumination problems on translation surfaces with planar infinities},
  author = {Nikolay Dimitrov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1105.2972},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

8 pages divided into two columns each, 7 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T18:07:36.415Z