Two applications of Jacobi fields to the billiard ball problem (Q1336256)

The billiard ball problem is considered in a convex domain \(Q\) of the plane. The Jacobi field is introduced attached to a one parameter family of billiard orbits. With its help the following theorem is proved: if the domain \(Q\) is foliated by smooth caustics in such a way that almost every orbit is tangent to a caustic, then \(Q\) is a disk. Applying this theorem a new proof is given to Bialy's theorem and also to Rychlik's theorem. The latter one says that the set of periodic orbits of period 3 of the billiard ball map is nowhere dense.