Perfect retroreflectors and billiard dynamics

DOI10.3934/JMD.2011.5.33zbMATH Open1221.37010arXiv0911.1984OpenAlexW2963045423MaRDI QIDQ550313FDOQ550313

Jens Marklof, Pavel Bachurin, Alexander Plakhov, K. Khanin

Publication date: 8 July 2011

Published in: Journal of Modern Dynamics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We construct semi-infinite billiard domains which reverse the direction of most incoming particles. We prove that almost all particles will leave the open billiard domain after a finite number of reflections. Moreover, with high probability the exit velocity is exactly opposite to the entrance velocity, and the particle's exit point is arbitrarily close to its initial position. The method is based on asymptotic analysis of statistics of entrance times to a small interval for irrational circle rotations. The rescaled entrance times have a limiting distribution in a limit when the number of iterates tends to infinity and the length of the interval vanishes. The proof of the main results follows from the study of related limiting distributions and their regularity properties.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0911.1984

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zbMATH Keywords

recurrencebilliardshomogeneous flowcircle rotationdynamical renormalizationretroreflectors

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Dynamical systems and their relations with probability theory and stochastic processes (37A50) General theory of distribution modulo (1) (11K06) Homogeneous flows (37A17)

Cited In (9)

• Billiard dynamics: An updated survey with the emphasis on open problems
• Infinite ergodic index of the Ehrenfest wind-tree model
• Method of nose stretching in Newton’s problem of minimal resistance
• Non-ergodic \(\mathbb{Z}\)-periodic billiards and infinite translation surfaces
• A solution to Newton's least resistance problem is uniquely defined by its singular set
• Coding billiards in hyperbolic 3-space
• Ergodic directions for billiards in a strip with periodically located obstacles
• Kinetic Theory for the Low-Density Lorentz Gas
• Geometry of Refractions and Reflections Through a Biperiodic Medium

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