Maximizing orbits for higher-dimensional convex billiards (Q2268262)

For two dimensional convex billiards, there are many maximizing billiard configurations. For example, any billiard configuration tangent to a smooth convex caustic is maximizing. Among these, in 2D, it is only for circles that all configurations are maximizing, which means that for any noncircular billiard configurations there exist conjugate points. In this paper, the author shows that in higher dimensions, for convex billiards there always exist billiard configurations with conjugate points. It is shown that in the \(n\)-dimensional case, for every point on the boundary, the presence of the conjugate points on a billiard configuration, appears as the \(n\)-th collision with the boundary and it is a consequence of a variational property of the billiard in higher dimensions.