Only ellipsoids have caustics (Q1907186)
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English | Only ellipsoids have caustics |
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Only ellipsoids have caustics (English)
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8 October 1996
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The author studies the existence problem for the caustics of billiard tables in Euclidean \(d\)-space \(E^d\) for \(d\geq 3\). His main result is that among all convex billiard tables in \(E^d\), \(d\geq 3\), only the solid ellipsoids have convex caustics; The caustics are precisely the confocal solid ellipsoids contained in their interiors and, moreover, the intersection of these. This result settles one conjecture in the author's own paper [Geom. Dedicata 33, 205-226 (1990; Zbl 0696.52001)].
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caustics of billiard tables
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ellipsoids
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convex caustics
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