Ergodic properties of plane billiards with symmetric potentials (Q1193096)

The chaotic behaviour of the motion of a particle moving in a region \(Q\) is studied. The region \(Q\) is a bounded, connected region of the plane, whose boundary consists of a finite set of curves \(C_ i\), \(C^{r+1},r\geq 2\), each of bounded curvature. The particle moves under the action of a symmetric potential, outside a disc contained in \(Q\). In order to deduce conditions on the boundary for chaotic billiards, the author uses quadratic forms defined on a 2-manifold which is the space of states for the dynamical system under study. Such quadratic forms were introduced by the author [ibid. 118, No. 1, 87- 97 (1988; Zbl 0653.58015)] to study non-vanishing Lyapunov exponents.