Caustics for inner and outer billiards

Eugene Gutkin, Anatole Katok

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

With a plane closed convex curve, T, we associate two area preserving twist maps: the (classical) inner billiard in T and the outer billiard in the exterior of T. The invariant circles of these twist maps correspond to certain plane curves: the inner and the outer caustics of T. We investigate how the shape of T determines the possible location of caustics, establish the existence of open regions which are free of caustics, and estimate fro below the size of these regions in terms of the geometry of T.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)101-133
Number of pages33
JournalCommunications In Mathematical Physics
Volume173
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1995

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Mathematical Physics

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