Multiplicity of periodic solutions to Birkhoff's billiard ball problem (Q1370168)

The note is devoted to the study of the multiplicity of periodic solutions in Birkhoff's billiard ball problem. The dynamical system treated in the paper is generated by the motion of a perfectly elastic billiard ball (with the usual convention that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection) inside a strictly convex table billiard with \(C^1\) smooth boundary \(\Gamma\). An orbit is said to be \(n\)-periodic (with the least period \(n\)) if its path is a a closed \(n\)-sided polygon having no coincidence sides. An \(n\)-bounced periodic orbit that makes \(k\) circuits of \(\Gamma\) is called a periodic orbit of \((n,k)\)-type. The Birkhoff result on the multiplicity of periodic orbits is the following. Theorem. For any \(n>1\) and each \(k\in S_n=\{ 1\leq k\leq n/2: k\) prime to \(n\}\) there exist at least two periodic orbits of \((n,k)\)-type. Birkhoff's original proof of this theorem is not convincing for various reasons, so the result may be considered as a conjecture. In the note, a proof of this theorem based on a critical point theory is announced. Another approach for proving the theorem was given by \textit{J. Mather} [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 63, 153-204 (1986; Zbl 0603.58028)].