Related papers: Billiards and the Five Distance Theorem II
A periodic orbit on a frictionless billiard table is a piecewise linear path of a billiard ball that begins and ends at the same point with the same angle of incidence. The period of a primitive periodic orbit is the number of times the…
We study a class of planar billiards having the remarkable property that their phase space consists up to a set of zero measure of two invariant sets formed by orbits moving in opposite directions. The tables of these billiards are tubular…
This paper explores the number of parallelograms that appear in a billiard path that enters one corner of a rectangle and leaves a second corner of a rectangle as a function of the normalized dimensions of the rectangle.
We study the problem of arithmetic billiards from a new perspective. We first raise a similar problem about reflecting lights inside grids. For the solution to this problem, we will give three proofs. Next, we consider a similar problem in…
A submanifold of the standard symplectic space determines a partially defined, multi-valued symplectic map, the outer symplectic billiard correspondence. Two points are in this correspondence if the midpoint of the segment connecting them…
A set in $\mathbb R^d$ is called almost-equidistant if for any three distinct points in the set, some two are at unit distance apart. First, we give a short proof of the result of Bezdek and L\'angi claiming that an almost-equidistant set…
A Finsler, not necessarily symmetric, metric in the plane or its convex subset is called projective if its geodesics are straight segments. We consider Finsler billiards in a convex planar domain endowed with a projective Finsler metric. A…
We consider a billiard in the plane with periodic configuration of convex scatterers. This system is recurrent, in the sense that almost every orbit comes back arbitrarily close to the initial point. In this paper we study the time needed…
The constrained Dirichlet boundary value problem $\ddot x=f(t,x)$, $x(0)=x(T)$, is studied in billiard spaces, where impacts occur in boundary points. Therefore we develop the research on impulsive Dirichlet problems with state-dependent…
The well-known three distance theorem states that there are at most three distinct gaps between consecutive elements in the set of the first n multiples of any real number. We generalise this theorem to higher dimensions under a suitable…
We study, by numerical simulations and semi-rigorous arguments, a two-parameter family of convex, two-dimensional billiard tables, generalizing the one-parameter class of oval billiards of Benettin--Strelcyn [Phys. Rev. A 17, 773 (1978)].…
Numerical computations suggest that each point on a certain optimized shape called the ideal trefoil is in contact with two other points. We consider sequences of such contact points, such that each point is in contact with its predecessor…
In specific types of partially rectangular billiards we estimate the mass of an eigenfunction of energy $E$ in the region outside the rectangular set in the high-energy limit. We use the adiabatic ansatz to compare the Dirichlet energy form…
N point particles move within a billiard table made of two circular cavities connected by a straight channel. The usual billiard dynamics is modified so that it remains deterministic, phase space volumes preserving and time reversal…
Dirichlet problem in an $n$-dimensional billiard space is investigated. In particular, the system of ODEs $\ddot x(t) = f(t,x(t))$ together with Dirichlet boundary conditions $x(0) = A$, $x(T) = B$ in an $n$-dimensional interval $K$ with…
Polygonalization of any smooth billiard boundary can be carried out in several ways. We show here that the semiclassical description depends on the polygonalization process and the results can be inequivalent. We also establish that…
Inverting the vertices of elliptic billiard N-periodics with respect to a circle centered on one focus yields a new "focus-inversive" family inscribed in Pascal's Lima\c{c}on. The following are some of its surprising invariants: (i)…
The orbit closure of the unfolding of every rational right and isosceles triangle is computed and the asymptotic number of periodic billiard trajectories in these triangles is deduced. This follows by classifying all orbit closures of rank…
We consider a strictly convex billiard table with $C^2$ boundary, with the dynamics subjected to random perturbations. Each time the billiard ball hits the boundary its reflection angle has a random perturbation. The perturbation…
A planar polygonal billiard $\P$ is said to have the finite blocking property if for every pair $(O,A)$ of points in $\P$ there exists a finite number of ``blocking'' points $B_1, ..., B_n$ such that every billiard trajectory from $O$ to…