Approximating multi-dimensional Hamiltonian flows by billiards (Q2454806)

The behavior of a point particle traveling with a constant speed in a region \(D\subset \mathbb R^n\), undergoing elastic collisions at the regions's boundary, is known as the billiard problem. Various billiard models serve as approximation to the classical and semi-classical motion in systems with steep potentials (e.g. for studying classical molecular dynamics, cold atom's motion in dark optical traps and microwave dynamics). The paper presents methodologies for examining the validity and accuracy of this approximation. The paper considers families of smooth potentials \(V_{\varepsilon}\), that, in the limit \(\varepsilon\to 0\), become singular hard-wall potentials of multidimensional billiards. To study the validity and accuracy of the approximation, auxiliary billiard domains that asymptote, as \(\varepsilon\to 0\), to the original billiards are defined. These domains provide, for regular trajectories, asymptotic expansion of the smooth Hamiltonian solution in terms of these billiard approximations. The asymptotic expansion includes error estimates in the \(C^r\) norm and an iteration scheme for improving this approximation. Application of the theory to smooth potentials that limit to the multidimensional close to ellipsoidal billiards allows to predict when the billiard's separatrix splitting persists for various types of potentials. The paper contains a short summary and discussion of the results obtained.