Periodic billiard trajectories in polygons: generating mechanisms

Abstract

CONTENTS Introduction §1. Billiard trajectories in a plane domain §2. Fagnano's problem. Mechanical interpretations of periodic trajectories in triangles §3. An extremal property of billiard trajectories. Birkhoff's theorem. The non-existence of a unified construction of periodic trajectories in obtuse triangles §4. 'Perpendicular' trajectories in obtuse triangles of special shape §5. 'Perpendicular' trajectories in rational polygons and polyhedra §6. Stable trajectories §7. Stable perpendicular trajectories §8. Isolated trajectories §9. Isolated trajectories in acute and obtuse triangles. The bifurcation diagram of isolated trajectories (a 'hang-glider' configuration) §10. The density of F-triangles in a neighbourhood of (0, 0) §11. Generalization of the construction of isolated trajectories in obtuse triangles §12. Stable and unstable billiard trajectories in plane Weyl chambers §13. A criterion for the stability of periodic trajectories in a regular hexagon Conclusion References