Periodic orbits on the regular hyperbolic octagon (Q2639393)

The authors continue their studies [the first and third author, Physica D 32, No.3, 451-460 (1988; Zbl 0662.58035)]. The length spectrum of closed geodesics on a compact Riemannian surface of genus 2 corresponding to a regular octagon in the Poincaré disc is investigated. In the paper cited above, the authors conjectured the formula \(\cosh (l_ n/2)=m+n\sqrt{2}\) for the lengths \(l_ n\) of primitive period orbits, where m, n are integers with certain restrictions. In the paper under review, this conjecture is proved. An algorithm for the multiplicity of geodesics with a given length is developed. The method is a detailed study of the \(2\times 2\) matrices forming the `octagon group'.