Related papers: Billiards, Checkers, and Quadratic Reciprocity

The goal of this survey is to introduce all the necessary concepts and theorems to provide a rigorous and self-contained proof of the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity and see how this is a useful tool to obtain results such as the problem of…

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…

This paper studies billiard models with a generalized law of reflection, the so-called projective billiards. They unify various laws, including the classical one in a Euclidean, pseudo-Euclidean or Riemannian metric. They were introduced…

This paper surveys our results on integrable billiards. We consider various models of billiards, including Birkhoff, outer, magnetic, and Minkowski billiards. Also, we discuss wire billiards and billiards in cones. For four models of convex…

We show that for a rational polygonal billiard, the set of pairs of points that do not illuminate each other (not connected by a billiard trajectory) is finite, and use the same method to extend the results of Leli\`evre, Monteil and Weiss,…

We investigate the dynamics of no-slip billiards, a model in which small rotating disks may exchange linear and angular momentum at collisions with the boundary. We give new results on periodicity and boundedness of orbits which suggest…

We introduce a new method for estimating the growth of various quantities arising in dynamical systems. We apply our method to polygonal billiards on surfaces of constant curvature. For instance, we obtain power bounds of degree two plus…

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…

Whenever a distinct state is immersed in a sea of complicated and dense states, the strength of the distinct state, which we refer to as a doorway, is distributed in their neighboring states. We analyze this mechanism for 2-D billiards with…

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…

An existence of an aperiodic point for outer billiard outside regular dodecagon is proved. Additionally, almost all orbits of such an outer billiard are proved to be periodic, and all possible periods are listed explicitly. The proof is…

We prove that any sufficiently small perturbation of an isosceles triangle has a periodic billiard path. Our proof involves the analysis of certain infinite families of Fourier series that arise in connection with triangular billiards, and…

We study outer length billiards; our main results are as follows. We prove 3- and 4-periodic versions of the Ivrii conjecture. We show that, for every period $n\ge 3$, there exists a functional space of billiard tables that possess…

In this paper, we define a variant of billiards in which the ball bounces around a square grid erasing walls as it goes. We prove that there exist periodic tunnels with arbitrarily large period from any possible starting point, that there…

The exact and semiclassical quantum mechanics of the elliptic billiard is investigated. The classical system is integrable and exhibits a separatrix, dividing the phasespace into regions of oscillatory and rotational motion. The classical…

A hard-wall billiard is a mathematical model describing the confinement of a free particle that collides specularly and instantaneously with boundaries and discontinuities. Soft billiards are a generalization that includes a smooth boundary…

The arithmetic triangular billiards are classically chaotic but have Poissonian energy level statistics, in ostensible violation of the BGS conjecture. We show that the length spectra of their periodic orbits divides into subspectra…

The notion of a rough two-dimensional (convex) body is introduced, and to each rough body there is assigned a measure on $\TTT^3$ describing billiard scattering on the body. The main result is characterization of the set of measures…

A body moves in a medium composed of noninteracting point particles; interaction of particles with the body is absolutely elastic. It is required to find the body's shape minimizing or maximizing resistance of the medium to its motion. This…

We study the collision dynamics of a spinning cue ball approaching a static object ball with equal mass on a plane, common in billiards. While typical collisions in billiards are nearly perfectly elastic, with a restitution coefficient…