Billiard Trajectories Research Articles

Billiard partitions, Fibonacci sequences, SIP classes, and quivers

Starting from billiard partitions which arose recently in the description of periodic trajectories of ellipsoidal billiards in d d -dimensional Euclidean space, we introduce a new type of separable integer partition classes, called type B. We study the numbers of basis partitions with d d parts and relate them to the Fibonacci sequence and its natural generalizations. Remarkably, the generating series of basis partitions can be related to the quiver generating series of symmetric quivers corresponding to the framed unknot via knots-quivers correspondence, and to the count of Schröder paths.

Resonances and Weighted Zeta Functions for Obstacle Scattering via Smooth Models

AbstractWe consider a geodesic billiard system consisting of a complete Riemannian manifold and an obstacle submanifold with boundary at which the trajectories of the geodesic flow experience specular reflections. We show that if the geodesic billiard system is hyperbolic on its trapped set and the latter is compact and non-grazing, the techniques for open hyperbolic systems developed by Dyatlov and Guillarmou (Ann Henri Poincaré 17(11):3089–3146, 2016) can be applied to a smooth model for the discontinuous flow defined by the non-grazing billiard trajectories. This allows us to obtain a meromorphic resolvent for the generator of the billiard flow. As an application we prove a meromorphic continuation of weighted zeta functions together with explicit residue formulae. In particular, our results apply to scattering by convex obstacles in the Euclidean plane.

Convex Bodies With All Characteristics Planar

Abstract We show that smooth and strongly convex bodies in the symplectic $\mathbb R^{2n}$ for $n>1$ with all characteristics planar, or all outer billiard trajectories planar, are affine symplectic images of balls.

A Practical Algorithm for Volume Estimation based on Billiard Trajectories and Simulated Annealing

We tackle the problem of efficiently approximating the volume of convex polytopes, when these are given in three different representations: H-polytopes, which have been studied extensively, V-polytopes, and zonotopes (Z-polytopes). We design a novel practical Multiphase Monte Carlo algorithm that leverages random walks based on billiard trajectories, as well as a new empirical convergence test and a simulated annealing schedule of adaptive convex bodies. After tuning several parameters of our proposed method, we present a detailed experimental evaluation of our tuned algorithm using a rich dataset containing Birkhoff polytopes and polytopes from structural biology. Our open-source implementation tackles problems that have been intractable so far, offering the first software to scale up in thousands of dimensions for H-polytopes and in the hundreds for V- and Z-polytopes on moderate hardware. Last, we illustrate our software in evaluating Z-polytope approximations.

Resonance of ellipsoidal billiard trajectories and extremal rational functions

We study resonant billiard trajectories within quadrics in the d-dimensional Euclidean space. We relate them to the theory of approximation, in particular the extremal rational functions on the systems of d intervals on the real line. This fruitful link enables us to prove fundamental properties of the billiard dynamics and to provide a comprehensive study of a large class of non-periodic trajectories of integrable billiards. A key ingredient is a functional-polynomial relation of a generalized Pell type. Applying further these ideas and techniques to s-weak billiard trajectories, we come to a functional-polynomial relation of the same generalized Pell type.

A Brunn–Minkowski type inequality for extended symplectic capacities of convex domains and length estimate for a class of billiard trajectories

In this paper, we firstly generalize the Brunn-Minkowski type inequality for Ekeland-Hofer-Zehnder symplectic capacity of bounded convex domains established by Artstein-Avidan-Ostrover in 2008 to extended symplectic capacities of bounded convex domains constructed by authors based on a class of Hamiltonian non-periodic boundary value problems recently. Then we introduce a class of non-periodic billiards in convex domains, and for them we prove some corresponding results to those for periodic billiards in convex domains obtained by Artstein-Avidan-Ostrover in 2012.

On continuous billiard and quasigeodesic flows characterizing alcoves and isosceles tetrahedra

AbstractWe characterize fundamental domains of affine reflection groups as those polyhedral convex bodies which support a continuous billiard dynamics. We interpret this characterization in the broader context of Alexandrov geometry and prove an analogous characterization for isosceles tetrahedra in terms of continuous quasigeodesic flows. Moreover, we show an optimal regularity result for convex bodies: the billiard dynamics is continuous if the boundary is of class . In particular, billiard trajectories converge to geodesics on the boundary in this case. Our proof of the latter continuity statement is based on Alexandrov geometry methods that we discuss, respectively, establish first.

A regularity result for shortest generalized billiard trajectories in convex bodies in mathbb {R}^n

We study length-minimizing closed generalized Euclidean billiard trajectories in convex bodies in mathbb {R}^n and investigate their relation to the inclusion minimal affine sections that contain these trajectories. We show that when passing to these sections, the length-minimizing closed billiard trajectories are still billiard trajectories, but their length-minimality as well as their regularity can be destroyed. In light of this, we prove what weaker regularity is actually preserved under passing to these sections. Based on the results, we develop an algorithm in order to calculate length-minimizing closed regular billiard trajectories in convex polytopes in mathbb {R}^n.

Detecting intrinsic global geometry of an obstacle via layered scattering.

Given a closed k-dimensional submanifold K, encapsulated in a compact domain M ⊂ E, k ≤ n - 2, we consider the problem of determining the intrinsic geometry of the obstacle K (such as volume, integral curvature) from the scattering data, produced by the reflections of geodesic trajectories from the boundary of a tubular ϵ-neighborhood T ( K , ϵ ) of K in M. The geodesics that participate in this scattering emanate from the boundary ∂ M and terminate there after a few reflections from the boundary ∂ T ( K , ϵ ). However, the major problem in this setting is that a ray (a billiard trajectory) may get stuck in the vicinity of K by entering some trap there so that this ray will have infinitely many reflections from ∂ T ( K , ϵ ). To rule out such a possibility, we modify the geometry of a tube T ( K , ϵ ) by building it from spherical bubbles. We need to use ⌈ dim ⁡ ( K ) / 2 ⌉ many bubbling tubes { T ( K , ϵ ) } for detecting certain global invariants of K, invariants that reflect its intrinsic geometry. Thus, the words "layered scattering" are in the title. These invariants were studied by Hermann Weyl in his classical theory of tubes T ( K , ϵ ) and their volumes.

Finiteness in polygonal billiards on hyperbolic plane

\textsc{J. Hadamard} studied the geometric properties of geodesic flows on surfaces of negative curvature, thus initiating "Symbolic Dynamics". In this article, we follow the same geometric approach to study the geodesic trajectories of billiards in "rational polygons" on the hyperbolic plane. We particularly show that the billiard dynamics resulting thus are just 'Subshifts of Finite Type' or their dense subsets. We further show that 'Subshifts of Finite Type' play a central role in subshift dynamics and while discussing the topological structure of the space of all subshifts, we demonstrate that they approximate any shift dynamics.

Uniqueness of billiard coding in polygons

We consider polygonal billiards and we show that every nonperiodic billiard trajectory hits a unique sequence of sides if all the holes of the polygonal table have non-zero minimal diameters, generalizing a classical theorem of Galperin, Krüger and Troubetzkoy. Our approach uses symbolic dynamics and elementary geometry. We review some classical constructions in polygonal billiards and we introduce, as one of our main tools, a method to code pairs of parallel billiard trajectories in non-simply connected polygons. We also discuss some useful properties of ‘generalized trajectories’, which can be uniquely constructed from the limits of converging sequences of billiard codings.

Combinatorics of periodic ellipsoidal billiards

We study combinatorics of billiard partitions which arose recently in the description of periodic trajectories of ellipsoidal billiards in d-dimensional Euclidean and pseudo-Euclidean spaces. Such partitions uniquely codify the sets of caustics, up to their types, which generate periodic trajectories. The period of a periodic trajectory is the largest part while the winding numbers are the remaining summands of the corresponding partition. In order to take into account the types of caustics as well, we introduce weighted partitions and provide closed forms for the generating functions of these partitions.

Billiard Trajectories in Regular Polygons and Geodesics on Regular Polyhedra

Billiard Trajectories in Regular Polygons and Geodesics on Regular Polyhedra

Dan Reznik’s identities and more

Dan Reznik found, by computer experimentation, a number of conserved quantities associated with periodic billiard trajectories in ellipses. We prove some of his observations using a non-standard generating function for the billiard ball map. In this way, we also obtain some identities valid for all smooth convex billiard tables.

More About Areas and Centers of Poncelet Polygons

We study the locus of the Circumcenter of Mass of Poncelet polygons, and the limit of the Center of Mass (when we consider the polygon as a “homogeneous lamina”) for degenerate Poncelet polygons. We also provide a proof for one of Dan Reznik invariants for billiard trajectories. Plus, we take a look at how the scene looks like when we shift to spherical geometry.

Travelling times in scattering by obstacles in curved space

We consider travelling times of billiard trajectories in the exterior of an obstacle K on a two-dimensional Riemannian manifold M. We prove that given two obstacles with almost the same travelling times, the generalised geodesic flows on the non-trapping parts of their respective phase-spaces will have a time-preserving conjugacy. Moreover, if M has non-positive sectional curvature, we prove that if K and L are two obstacles with strictly convex boundaries and almost the same travelling times then K and L are identical.

When different norms lead to same billiard trajectories?

Extending a result of Milena Radnović and Serge Tabachnikov, we establish conditions for two different non-symmetric norms to define the same billiard reflection law.

Counting Periodic Trajectories of Finsler Billiards

We provide lower bounds on the number of periodic Finsler billiard trajectories inside a quadratically convex smooth closed hypersurface $M$ in a $d$-dimensional Finsler space with possibly irreversible Finsler metric. An example of such a system is a billiard in a sufficiently weak magnetic field. The $r$-periodic Finsler billiard trajectories correspond to $r$-gons inscribed in $M$ and having extremal Finsler length. The cyclic group ${\mathbb Z}_r$ acts on these extremal polygons, and one counts the ${\mathbb Z}_r$-orbits. Using Morse and Lusternik-Schnirelmann theories, we prove that if $r\ge 3$ is prime, then the number of $r$-periodic Finsler billiard trajectories is not less than $(r-1)(d-2)+1$. We also give stronger lower bounds when $M$ is in general position. The problem of estimating the number of periodic billiard trajectories from below goes back to Birkhoff. Our work extends to the Finsler setting the results previously obtained for Euclidean billiards by Babenko, Farber, Tabachnikov, and Karasev.

Counting special lagrangian fibrations in twistor families of K3 surfaces

The number of closed billiard trajectories in a rational-angled polygon grows quadratically in the length. This paper gives an analogue on K3 surfaces, by considering special Lagrangian tori. The analogue of the angle of a billiard trajectory is a point on a twistor sphere, and the number of directions admitting a special Lagrangian torus fibration with volume bounded by $ V $ grows like $ V^{20} $ with a power-saving term. Bergeron--Matheus have explicitly estimated the exponent of the error term as $ {20-\frac{4}{697633} }$. The counting result on K3 surfaces is deduced from a count of primitive isotropic vectors in indefinite lattices, which is in turn deduced from equidistribution results in homogeneous dynamics.

Representation formula for symmetrical symplectic capacity and applications

This is the second installment in a series of papers aimed at generalizing symplectic capacities and homologies. We study symmetric versions of symplectic capacities for real symplectic manifolds, and obtain corresponding results for them to those of the first [ 19 ] of this series (such as representation formula, a theorem by Evgeni Neduv, Brunn-Minkowski type inequality and Minkowski billiard trajectories proposed by Artstein-Avidan-Ostrover).