Periodic points of the billiard ball map in a convex domain (Q1124190)

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Periodic points of the billiard ball map in a convex domain
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    Periodic points of the billiard ball map in a convex domain (English)
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    1989
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    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 \(n=3\).
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    billiard
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    periodic orbits
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