Noncoincidence of geodesic lengths and hearing elliptic quantum billiards

Assume that the planar region has aC ¹ boundary and is strictly convex in the sense that the tangent angle determines a point on the boundary. The lengths of invariant circles for the billiard ball map (or caustics) accumulate on ||. It follows from direct calculations and from relations between the lengths of invariant circles and the lengths of trajectories of the billiard ball map that under mild assumptions on the lengths of some geodesics the region satisfies the strong noncoincidence condition. This condition plays a role in recovering the lengths of closed geodesics from the spectrum of the Laplacian. Asymptotics for the lengths of invariant circles and an application to ellipses are discussed. In addition; some examples regarding strong non coincidence are given.     

Invariants of the length spectrum and spectral invariants of planar convex domains

This paper is concerned with a conjecture of Guillemin and Melrose that the length spectrum of a strictly convex bounded domain together with the spectra of the linear Poincaré maps corresponding to the periodic broken geodesics in determine uniquely the billiard ball map up to a symplectic conjugation. We consider continuous deformations of bounded domains _s ,s[0, 1], with smooth boundaries and suppose that ₀ is strictly convex and that the length spectrum does not change along the deformation. We prove that ₀ is strictly convex for anys along the deformation and that for different values of the parameters the corresponding billiard ball maps are symplectically equivalent to each other on the union of the invariant KAM circles. We prove as well that the KAM circles and the restriction of the billiard ball map on them are spectral invariants of the Laplacian with Dirichlet (Neumann) boundary conditions for suitable deformations of strictly convex domains.Supported by Alexander von Humboldt foundation     

Integrability and ergodicity of classical billiards in a magnetic field

We consider classical billiards in plane, connected, but not necessarily bounded domains. The charged billiard ball is immersed in a homogeneous, stationary magnetic field perpendicular to the plane. The part of dynamics which is not trivially integrable can be described by a bouncing map. We compute a general expression for the Jacobian matrix of this map, which allows us to determine stability and bifurcation values of specific periodic orbits. In some cases, the bouncing map is a twist map and admits a generating function. We give a general form for this function which is useful to do perturbative calculations and to classify periodic orbits. We prove that billiards in convex domains with sufficiently smooth boundaries possess invariant tori corresponding to skipping trajectories. Moreover, in strong field we construct adiabatic invariants over exponentially large times. To some extent, these results remain true for a class of nonconvex billiards. On the other hand, we present evidence that the billiard in a square is ergodic for some large enough values of the magnetic field. A numerical study reveals that the scattering on two circles is essentially chaotic.     

Nonequilibrium Gas and Generalized Billiards

Generalized billiards describe nonequilibrium gas, consisting of finitely many particles, that move in a container, whose walls heat up or cool down. Generalized billiards can be considered both in the framework of the Newtonian mechanics and of the relativity theory. In the Newtonian case, a generalized billiard may possess an invariant measure; the Gibbs entropy with respect to this measure is constant. On the contrary, generalized relativistic billiards are always dissipative,and the Gibbs entropy with respect to the same measure grows under some natural conditions. In this article, we find the necessary and sufficient conditions for a generalized Newtonian billiard to possess a smooth invariant measure, which is independent of the boundary action: the corresponding classical billiard should have an additional first integral of special type. In particular,the generalized Sinai billiards do not possess a smooth invariant measure. We then consider generalized billiards inside a ball, which is one of the main examples of the Newtonian generalized billiards which does have an invariant measure. We construct explicitly the invariant measure, and find the conditions for the Gibbs entropy growth for the corresponding relativistic billiard both formonotone and periodic action of the boundary.     

Closed Geodesics and Billiards on Quadrics Related to Elliptic KdV Solutions

We consider algebraic geometrical properties of the integrable billiard on a quadric Q with elastic impacts along another quadric confocal to Q. These properties are in sharp contrast with those of the ellipsoidal Birkhoff billiards in ⁿ . Namely, generic complex invariant manifolds are not Abelian varieties, and the billiard map is no more algebraic. A Poncelet-like theorem for such system is known. We give explicit sufficient conditions both for closed geodesics and periodic billiard orbits on Q and discuss their relation with the elliptic KdV solutions and elliptic Calogero system.     

On the Integral Geometry of Liouville Billiard Tables

The notion of a Radon transform is introduced for completely integrable billiard tables. In the case of Liouville billiard tables of dimension 3 we prove that the Radon transform is one-to-one on the space of continuous functions K on the boundary which are invariant with respect to the corresponding group of symmetries. We prove also that the frequency map associated with a class of Liouville billiard tables is non-degenerate. This allows us to obtain spectral rigidity of the corresponding Laplace-Beltrami operator with Robin boundary conditions.     

Escape Rates and Physically Relevant Measures for Billiards with Small Holes

We study the billiard map corresponding to a periodic Lorentz gas in 2-dimensions in the presence of small holes in the table. We allow holes in the form of open sets away from the scatterers as well as segments on the boundaries of the scatterers. For a large class of smooth initial distributions, we establish the existence of a common escape rate and normalized limiting distribution. This limiting distribution is conditionally invariant and is the natural analogue of the SRB measure of a closed system. Finally, we prove that as the size of the hole tends to zero, the limiting distribution converges to the smooth invariant measure of the billiard map.     

Billiards with Pockets: A Separation Principle and Bound for the Number of Orbit Types

 We introduce and prove a Separation Principle, similar in form to the familiar Uncertainty Principle of quantum mechanics, which separates the position and direction of any two phase points on distinct unfoldings of (non-parallel) trajectories on a polygonal billiard table with pockets. Applying this principle, we demonstrate that the number of orbit types (that is, classes of trajectories, up to parallelism) on a polygonal billiard table with area A and pockets of area a is strictly bounded above by . More generally, the same bound applies to any compact polyhedral surface with pockets at its vertices. If the boundary is empty (so that billiard trajectories are just geodesics), the bound is reduced by a factor of two to . We believe the Separation Principle will also have fundamental applications to other problems in the theory of billiards and related dynamical systems. Received: 28 December 2001 / Accepted: 9 April 2002 Published online: 4 September 2002     

The local geometry of chaotic billiards

For a billiard of a general shape a transformation is introduced which projects the boundary on the unit circle. This introduces a non-Euclidean metric on the plane which contains all relevant information of the shape of the boundary. Classically the straight lines of the free motion correspond to geodesics and quantum mechanically the energy spectrum is that of Laplace–Beltrami operator with Dirichlet boundary conditions on the unit circle. The geodesic equations are highly non-linear. Nevertheless for the interval between two consecutive scatterings we have two integrals of motion, the kinetic energy and the angular momentum. This fact helps to solve explicitly the geodesic equations. These solutions can be used to derive interesting properties for the classical scattering. Quantum mechanically the spectrum of the above billiards is obtained for certain parameter values both perturbatively for small values of the parameter and also using a diagonalization procedure. This method is applicable to any particular form of a billiard for which the transformation is invertible and can be used on one hand as a quick method of approximate spectral determination and as a theoretical tool to analyse specific properties of integrability and chaos through the associated connection form and the Laplace–Beltrami operator. Finally as a first indication of the potentiality of this method we present a graphical test where for very small deviations from the circular billiard an integrable and two non-integrable billiards can be distinguished by the distribution of the differences of the first order corrections while this distinction is not evident by the usual test for the nearest neighbor level spacings.     

The Spectrum of the Billiard Laplacian of a Family of Random Billiards

Random billiards are billiard dynamical systems for which the reflection law giving the post-collision direction of a billiard particle as a function of the pre-collision direction is specified by a Markov (scattering) operator P. Billiards with microstructure are random billiards whose Markov operator is derived from a “microscopic surface structure” on the boundary of the billiard table. The microstructure in turn is defined in terms of what we call a billiard cellQ, the shape of which completely determines the operator P. This operator, defined on an appropriate Hilbert space, is bounded self-adjoint and, for the examples considered here, a Hilbert-Schmidt operator. A central problem in the statistical theory of such random billiards is to relate the geometric characteristics of Q and the spectrum of P. We show, for a particular family of billiard cell shapes parametrized by a scale invariant curvature K (Fig. 2), that the billiard Laplacian P−I is closely related to the ordinary spherical Laplacian, and indicate, by partly analytical and partly numerical means, how this provides asymptotic information about the spectrum of P for small values of K. It is shown, in particular, that the second moment of scattering about the incidence angle closely approximates the spectral gap of P.     

Current in Periodic Lorentz Gases with Twists

We study electrical current in two-dimensional periodic Lorentz gas in the presence of a twist force on the scatterers. In this deterministic system, billiard orbits are still geodesics between collisions, but do not reflect elastically when reaching the boundary. When the horizon is finite, i.e. the free flights between collisions are bounded, the resulting current J is proportional to the strength of the twist force measured by ε. We also prove the existence of a unique SRB measure, for which the Pesin entropy formula and Young’s expression for the fractal dimension are valid.     

Interpolating Hamiltonians for a stochastic-web map with quasicrystalline symmetry

A systematic Hamiltonian approximation scheme is developed for a stochastic-web map with fivefold quasicrystalline symmetry. Interpolating Hamiltonians are calculated up to tenth order in the control parameter a. The higher order Hamiltonians are used to provide bounds for closed invariant curves of the map, and to investigate the structural evolution of map's phase portrait for a相似文献   

Numerical study of a billiard in a gravitational field

Billiards have always been used as models for mechanical systems. In this paper we describe a very simple billiard which, over a range of one continous parameter only, exhibits the characteristics of Hamiltonian systems having two degrees of freedom and a discontinuity. The relationship between this billiard and the well-known one-dimensional self-gravitating system (with N = 3) is given. This billiard consists of a mass point moving in a symmetric wedge of angle 2θ under the influence of a constant gravitational field. For θ<45° KAM and chaotic regions coexist in the phase space. A specific family of curves, related to collisions at the wedge vertex, limits the expansion of near-integrable regions. For θ=45°, the motion is strictly integrable. Finally, for θ>;45°, complete chaos is obtained, suggesting K-system behavior. The general properties of the mapping and some numerical results obtained are discussed. Of special interest are invariant curves which cross a line of discontinuity, and a new “universality” class for Lyapunov numbers.     

A new definition of singular points in general relativity

To any space time a boundary is attached on which incomplete geodesics terminate as well as inextensible timelike curves of finite length and bounded acceleration. The construction is free ofad hoc assumptions concerning the topology of the boundary and the identification of curves defining the same boundary point. Moreover it is a direct generalization of the Cauchy completion of positive definite Riemannian spaces.Read on 15 May 1970 at the Gwatt Seminar on the Bearings of Topology upon General Relativity     

Instability of the boundary in the billiard ball problem

We consider the billiard ball problem in the interior of a plane closed convexC ¹ curve which is piecewiseC ². If the curvature has a discontinuity, then the boundary is unstable, i.e. no caustics exist near the boundary. However, in the interior there can exist caustics, as we show by an example.     

Chaos in the square billiard with a modified reflection law

The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamics of a square billiard with a non-standard reflection law such that the angle of reflection of the particle is a linear contraction of the angle of incidence. We present numerical and analytical arguments that the nonwandering set of this billiard decomposes into three invariant sets, a parabolic attractor, a chaotic attractor, and a set consisting of several horseshoes. This scenario implies the positivity of the topological entropy of the billiard, a property that is in sharp contrast with the integrability of the square billiard with the standard reflection law.     

On Statistical Properties of Hyperbolic Systems with Singularities

We study hyperbolic systems with singularities and prove the coupling lemma and exponential decay of correlations under weaker assumptions than previously adopted in similar studies. Our new approach allows us to study the mixing rates of the reduced map for certain billiard models that could not be handled by the traditional techniques. These models include modified Bunimovich stadia, which are bounded by minor arcs, and flower-type regions that are bounded by major arcs.     

A numerical examination of certain null geodesies of a high angular momentum kerr field

An observer situated anywhere but in the equatorial plane of a high angular momentum Kerr field cannot see the ring singularity. In the visual field of such an observer, what demarcates his own universe from that through the ring? The projections onto a certain submanifold of the null geodesics which pass through a point on the symmetry axis of a specific Kerr field are examined numerically. All the distinct projections are obtained by varying one parameter, essentially the quadratic Killing tensor constant. Various interesting features of the geodesics emerge. Through the ring is a region in which there exist closed time-like curves and which can be used to construct closed time-like curves through any non-singular point of the manifold. Only geodesies of negative angular momentum can enter this region.     

A numerical examination of certain null geodesies of a high angular momentum kerr field

An observer situated anywhere but in the equatorial plane of a high angular momentum Kerr field cannot see the ring singularity. In the visual field of such an observer, what demarcates his own universe from that through the ring?The projections onto a certain submanifold of the null geodesics which pass through a point on the symmetry axis of a specific Kerr field are examined numerically. All the distinct projections are obtained by varying one parameter, essentially the quadratic Killing tensor constant. Various interesting features of the geodesics emerge.Through the ring is a region in which there exist closed time-like curves and which can be used to construct closed time-like curves through any non-singular point of the manifold. Only geodesies of negative angular momentum can enter this region.