Dynamics of perturbed elliptical billiard tables

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Bishop, Patrick, Chenoweth, Summer, Fleurantin, Emmanuel, Sander, Evelyn, James, Jason Mireles
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Bishop, Patrick
Chenoweth, Summer
Fleurantin, Emmanuel
Sander, Evelyn
James, Jason Mireles
author_facet Bishop, Patrick
Chenoweth, Summer
Fleurantin, Emmanuel
Sander, Evelyn
James, Jason Mireles
contents Dynamical billiards consist of a particle on a two-dimensional table, bouncing elastically off a boundary curve. The state of the system is given by two numbers: one describing the location along the curve where the bounce occurs, and another describing the incoming angle of the bounce. Successive bounces define a two-dimensional area preserving map, and iterating this map gives a dynamical system first studied by Birkhoff. One of the simplest smooth table shapes is that of an ellipse, in which case the dynamics of the billiard map is completely integrable. The longstanding Birkhoff conjecture is that elliptical tables are the only smooth convex table for which complete integrability occurs. In this spirit, we present an implicit real analytic method for iterating billiard maps on perturbed elliptical tables. This method allows us to compute local stable and unstable manifolds of periodic orbits using the parameterization method. Globalizing these local manifolds numerically provides insight into the dynamics of the table.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_15272
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamics of perturbed elliptical billiard tables
Bishop, Patrick
Chenoweth, Summer
Fleurantin, Emmanuel
Sander, Evelyn
James, Jason Mireles
Dynamical Systems
37C83, 37M21, 37M05, 37D10
Dynamical billiards consist of a particle on a two-dimensional table, bouncing elastically off a boundary curve. The state of the system is given by two numbers: one describing the location along the curve where the bounce occurs, and another describing the incoming angle of the bounce. Successive bounces define a two-dimensional area preserving map, and iterating this map gives a dynamical system first studied by Birkhoff. One of the simplest smooth table shapes is that of an ellipse, in which case the dynamics of the billiard map is completely integrable. The longstanding Birkhoff conjecture is that elliptical tables are the only smooth convex table for which complete integrability occurs. In this spirit, we present an implicit real analytic method for iterating billiard maps on perturbed elliptical tables. This method allows us to compute local stable and unstable manifolds of periodic orbits using the parameterization method. Globalizing these local manifolds numerically provides insight into the dynamics of the table.
title Dynamics of perturbed elliptical billiard tables
topic Dynamical Systems
37C83, 37M21, 37M05, 37D10
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15272