Related papers: How smooth can convex chaotic billiard tables be?
We introduce a new notion of stability for periodic orbits in polygonal billiards. We say that a periodic orbit of a polygonal billiard is $\lambda$-stable if there is a periodic orbit for the corresponding pinball billiard which converges…
In this work, we construct linearly stable periodic orbits in $3$-dimensional domains with boundaries containing focusing components (small pieces of a sphere) where we place these components arbitrarily far apart. It demonstrates that we…
We present a link between billiards in convex plane domains and Hofer's geometry, an area of symplectic topology. For smooth strictly convex billiard tables, we prove that the Hofer distance between the corresponding billiard ball maps…
This is the first survey of highly excited eigenstates of a chaotic 3D billiard. We introduce a strongly chaotic 3D billiard with a smooth boundary and we manage to calculate accurate eigenstates with sequential number (of a 48-fold…
We study billiards in domains enclosed by circular polygons. These are closed $C^1$ strictly convex curves formed by finitely many circular arcs. We prove the existence of a set in phase space, corresponding to generic sliding trajectories…
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…
The classical dynamics of the isotropic two-dimensional harmonic oscillator confined by an elliptic hard wall is discussed. The interplay between the harmonic potential with circular symmetry and the boundary with elliptical symmetry does…
Dynamical billiards consist of a particle on a two-dimensional table, bouncing elastically off a boundary curve. The state of the system is given by two numbers: one describing the location along the curve where the bounce occurs, and…
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 show that for almost every $(P,\lambda)$ where $P$ is a convex polygon and $\lambda\in(0,1)$, the corresponding outer billiard about $P$ with contraction $\lambda$ is asymptotically periodic, i.e., has a finite number of periodic orbits…
The billiard problem concerns a point particle moving freely in a region of the horizontal plane bounded by a closed curve $\Gamma$, and reflected at each impact with $\Gamma$. The region is called a `billiard', and the reflections are…
Astute variations in the geometry of mathematical billiard tables have been and continue to be a source of understanding their wide range of dynamical behaviors, from regular to chaotic. Viewing standard specular billiards in the broader…
We show that in the space of all convex billiard boundaries, the set of boundaries with rational caustics is dense. More precisely, the set of billiard boundaries with caustics of rotation number $1/q$ is polynomial sense in the smooth…
In this paper we prove the Birkhoff-Poritsky conjecture for centrally-symmetric $C^2$-smooth convex planar billiards. We assume that the domain $\mathcal A$ between the invariant curve of $4$-periodic orbits and the boundary of the phase…
We adapt ideas from geometrical optics and classical billiard dynamics to consider particle trajectories with constant velocity on a cone with specular reflections off an elliptical boundary formed by the intersection with a tilted plane,…
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)].…
We study the quantum behaviour of chaotic billiards which exhibit classically diffusive behaviour. In particular we consider the stadium billiard and discuss how the interplay between quantum localization and the rich structure of the…
We introduce the spherical wedge billiard, a dynamical system consisting of a particle moving along a geodesic on a closed non-Euclidean surface of a spherical wedge. We derive the analytic form of the corresponding Poincar\'e map and find…
We construct a well ordered symbolic dynamics plane for the stadium billiard. In this symbolic plane the forbidden and the allowed orbits are separated by a monotone pruning front, and allowed orbits can be systematically generated by…
Billiards tables - a minimal model for particles moving in a confined region - are known to present classical (and quantum) different features according to their shape, ranging from strongly chaotic to integrable dynamics. Here we consider…