Periodic points of the billiard ball map in a convex domain (Q1124190): Difference between revisions

Let C be a closed strictly convex curve with positive curvature in the plane. The motion of a (point-shaped) billiard ball with unit speed inside C can be described by iterating the corresponding self map of the space \(S_+(C)\) consisting of all unit vectors which are located somewhere on C and do not point outward. The author considers periodic orbits of this billiard ball map. If C is \(C^ 3\), he conjectures that points of period \(n\geq 2\) in \(S_+(C)\) have Lebesgue measure 0. If \(n=2\), this is true for elementary reasons. The author proves this conjecture for \(n=3\).