Related papers: Maximizing orbits for higher dimensional convex bi…
We show that the complexity of the billiard in a typical polygon grows cubically and the number of saddle connections grows quadratically along certain subsequences. It is known that the set of points whose first n-bounces hits the same…
We consider systems of "pinned balls," i.e., balls that have fixed positions and pseudo-velocities. Pseudo-velocities change according to the same rules as those for velocities of totally elastic collisions between moving balls. The times…
Mathematical billiards is much like the real game: a point mass, representing the ball, rolls in a straight line on a (perfectly friction-less) table, striking the sides according to the law of reflection. A billiard trajectory is then…
We study the geometry of billiard orbits on rectangular billiards. A truncated billiard orbit induces a partition of the rectangle into polygons. We prove that thirteen is a sharp upper bound for the number of different areas of these…
We obtain an upper bound of the number of collisions of any billiard trajectory in a polyhedral angle in terms of the minimal eigenvalue of a positive definite matrix which characterizes the angle. Elements of the matrix are scalar products…
Given an exact symplectic map $T$ of a cylinder with a generating function $H$ satisfying the so-called negative twist condition, $H_{12}>0$, we study the locally maximizing orbits of $T$, that is, configurations which are local maxima of…
We consider two nested billiards in $\mathbb R^d$, $d\geq3$, with $C^2$-smooth strictly convex boundaries. We prove that if the corresponding actions by reflections on the space of oriented lines commute, then the billiards are confocal…
We give lower bound on the number of periodic billiard trajectories inside a generic smooth strictly convex closed surface in 3-space: for odd n, there are at least 2(n-1) such trajectories. We apply a topological approach based on the…
We present some foundational results about the outer length billiard system, including its generating function and the invariant area form. We describe the limiting behavior of the orbits far away from the billiard table: the orbits of the…
We consider billiard trajectories in a smooth convex body in $\mathbb R^d$ and estimate the number of distinct periodic trajectories that make exactly $p$ reflections per period at the boundary of the body. In the case of prime $p$ we…
E. Gutkin found a remarkable class of convex billiard tables in the plane which have a constant angle invariant curve. In this paper we prove that in dimension 3 only round sphere has such a property. For dimension greater than 3 it must be…
From a geometric viewpoint, billiard trajectories and geodesics are related by mutual approximation results. In one direction, it is known that every geodesic curve in the boundary of a smooth convex body can be approximated by a sequence…
Consider billiard dynamics in a strictly convex domain, and consider a trajectory that begins with the velocity vector making a small positive angle with the boundary. Lazutkin proved that in two dimensions, it is impossible for this angle…
Let $T\subset \R^{m+1}$ be a strictly convex domain bounded by a smooth hypersurface $X=\partial T$. In this paper we find lower bounds on the number of billiard trajectories in $T$ which have a prescribed intial point $A\in X$, a…
The classical inner and outer billiards can be formulated in variational terms, with length and area as the respective generating functions. The other two combinations, ``inner with area'' and ``outer with length,'' are more recently…
The goal of this paper is an analysis of the geometry of billiards in ellipses, based on properties of confocal central conics. The extended sides of the billiards meet at points which are located on confocal ellipses and hyperbolas. They…
We consider classical dynamical properties of a particle in a constant gravitational force and making specular reflections with circular, elliptic or oval boundaries. The model and collision map are described and a detailed study of the…
In this work we consider variational properties of exact symplectic twist maps $T$ that act on the cotangent bundle of a torus, or on a ball bundle over a sphere. An example of such a map is the well-known Birkhoff billiard map…
In this paper we define and study the billiard problem on bounded regions on surfaces of constant curvature. We show that this problem defines a 2-dimensional conservative and reversible dynamical system, defined by a Twist diffeomorphism,…
Establishing global well-posedness and convergence toward equilibrium of the Boltzmann equation with specular reflection boundary condition has been one of the central questions in the subject of kinetic theory. Despite recent significant…