Pseudo-Riemannian geodesics and billiards
Differential Geometry
2009-02-24 v3 Symplectic Geometry
Abstract
Many classical facts in Riemannian geometry have their pseudo-Riemannian analogs. For instance, the spaces of space-like and time-like geodesics on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold have natural symplectic structures (just like in the Riemannian case), while the space of light-like geodesics has a natural contact structure. We discuss the geometry of these structures in detail, as well as introduce and study pseudo-Euclidean billiards. In particular, we prove pseudo-Euclidean analogs of the Jacobi-Chasles theorems and show the integrability of the billiard in the ellipsoid and the geodesic flow on the ellipsoid in a pseudo-Euclidean space.
Cite
@article{arxiv.math/0608620,
title = {Pseudo-Riemannian geodesics and billiards},
author = {B. Khesin and S. Tabachnikov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0608620},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
title abbreviated, text edited; to appear in Advances in Mathematics