Gravitational billiards bouncing inside general domains -- foci curves and confined domains (Q6141322)

A massive particle under the influence of a constant gravitational force is bouncing inside an ideal reflecting mirror with a profile given by some function $f(x)$. The author derives the parametric curves, named parametric foci curves. They have the property to locate all focal points of the flight parabolas for a given initial position and energy. From these foci curves the associated flight parabola envelopes are derived, resulting, together with the mirror surface, in a confined trajectory for all possible particle trajectories in the non-periodic orbit case. The general results are discussed and visualized for three different mirror surfaces. The reviewer concludes after the reading, that the approach to the problem is novel. Thereby, based on general results stated in two theorems, the author is able to reproduce and generalize the results for the confining trajectories could obtained already in few articles by \textit{K. D. Anderson} [``Dynamics of a rotated orthogonal gravitational wedge billiard'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2206.04997}] and \textit{S. Masalovich} [``Billiards in a gravitational field: a particle bouncing on a parabolic and right angle mirror'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2007.04730}]. For future investigation the author determines the mirror function $f(x)$ such that the foci curve represents an ellipse and the associated flight parabola vertex curve -- a circle.