One can play billiard inside every compact domain of \(\mathbb{R}^3\) with a smooth boundary, with the rule that rays reflect perfectly on the boundary. If the boundary has corners, the reflection is not defined and one can consider orbits avoiding them. Thus a periodic orbit with no self-intersection point yields a knot in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and one can wonder about the relation between the shape of the billiard and the knots arising in this way. In a cubic domain the latter correspond to the so-called Lissajous knots, in a cylinder the situation is more complex. The author has a 3D-billiard realizing all links as collections of isotopy classes of periodic orbits, and for every branched surface supporting a semi-flow a 3D-billiard whose collections of periodic orbits contain those of the branched surface. Applying the suggested construction a positive answer is provided to the question about the existence of billiards containing all knots as periodic orbits.
- Anosov geodesic flows, billiards and linkages
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 861571
- On stability of two-linked periodic trajectories of billiards on two- dimensional surfaces of constant curvature
- The 2-link periodic orbits which maximize or minimize the length of ap-dimensional Birkhoff billiard are hyperbolic
- Periodic trajectories in 3-dimensional convex billiards
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