Wire billiards, the first steps

DOI10.1016/J.AIM.2020.107154MaRDI QIDQ2180909zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Misha Bialy, Andrey Mironov, S. Tabachnikov

Publication date 15 May 2020

Published in Advances in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.13617

zbMATH Keywords

causticsintegrable billiardstwist mapswire billiards

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Dynamical systems with singularities (billiards, etc.) (37C83) Dynamical systems of geometric origin and hyperbolicity (geodesic and horocycle flows, etc.) (37D40) Completely integrable finite-dimensional Hamiltonian systems, integration methods, integrability tests (37J35) Perturbations of finite-dimensional Hamiltonian systems, normal forms, small divisors, KAM theory, Arnol'd diffusion (37J40)

Abstract: Wire billiard is defined by a smooth embedded closed curve of non-vanishing curvature $k$ in $mathbb{R}^n$ (a wire). For a class of curves, that we call nice wires, the wire billiard map is area preserving twist map of the cylinder. In this paper we are investigating whether the basic features of conventional planar billiards extend to this more general situation. In particular, we extend Lazutkin's KAM result, as well as Mather's converse KAM result, to wire billiards. We address the notion of caustics: for wire billiards, it corresponds to striction curve of the ruled surface spanned by the chords of the invariant curve. If the ruled surface is developable this is a genuine caustic. We found remarkable examples of the wires which are closed orbits of 1-parameter subgroup of $SO(n)$. These wire billiards are totally integrable. Using the theory of interpolating Hamiltonians, we prove that the distribution of impact points of the wire becomes uniform with respect to the measure $k^{2/3}dx$ (where $x$ is the arc length parameter), as the length of the chords tends to zero. Applying this result, we prove that the billiard transformation in an ellipsoid commutes with the reparameterized geodesic flow on a confocal ellipsoid: the speed of the foot point of the line tangent to a geodesic equals $k^{-2/3}$, where $k$ is the curvature of the geodesic in the ambient space. We also discuss perspectives and open problems of this new class of billiards.

Recommendations

• Billiards and nonholonomic distributions
• The billiard inside an ellipse deformed by the curvature flow
• Sub-Riemannian geometry and periodic orbits in classical billiards
• A dynamical approach to symplectic and spectral invariants for billiards
• Isometric billiards in ellipses and focal billiards in ellipsoids

Cites work

• A Curvature Formula
• A generalization of the isoperimetric inequality
• A survey on polynomial in momenta integrals for billiard problems
• Addendum to: ``Capillary floating and the billiard ball problem
• Approximation by polygons and polyhedra
• Capillary floating and the billiard ball problem
• Closed orbits and converse KAM theory
• Convex billiards and a theorem by E. Hopf
• Degenerate billiards
• Degenerate billiards in celestial mechanics
• Effective bounds in E. Hopf rigidity for billiards and geodesic flows
• Equivalence of glancing hyper-surfaces
• Exterior differential systems and billiards
• Glancing billiards
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 47098 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 53858 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 480235 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1465776 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 218257 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 780179 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5047782 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3405122 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2229974 (Why is no real title available?)
• Integrable maps
• Invariant Tori for the Billiard Ball Map
• Lagrangian relations and linear point billiards
• No planar billiard possesses an open set of quadrilateral trajectories
• Note on the periodic points of the billiard
• On curves with the Poritsky property
• On the integrability of Birkhoff billiards
• On the measure of the set of periodic points of the billiard
• Periodic points of the billiard ball map in a convex domain
• Polygonal approximation of plane convex bodies
• Poncelet porisms and beyond. Integrable billiards, hyperelliptic Jacobians and pencils of quadrics
• Some Integral Formulas for Space Curves and Their Generalization
• Spectral invariants of convex planar regions
• Sub-Riemannian geometry and periodic orbits in classical billiards
• The billiard ball problem on a table with a convex boundary - An illustrative dynamical problem. I. The invariant integral
• Topology of cylic configuration spaces and periodic trajectories of multi-dimensional billiards
• Two applications of Jacobi fields to the billiard ball problem

Cited in

(9)

• Refraction periodic trajectories in central mass galaxies
• The Birkhoff-Poritsky conjecture for centrally-symmetric billiard tables
• Discrete geodesic flows on Stiefel manifolds
• Counting collisions in an \(N\)-billiard system using angles between collision subspaces
• Self-Bäcklund curves in centroaffine geometry and Lamé’s equation
• On differential equations of integrable billiard tables
• On some refraction billiards
• Monotone twist maps and Dowker-type theorems
• Level surfaces of the first integral for a billiard system with cosine refraction

This page was built for publication: Wire billiards, the first steps

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2180909)