Abstract
Gutkin found a remarkable class of convex billiard tables in a plane that has a constant angle invariant curve. In this paper we prove that in dimension 3 only a round sphere has such a property. For dimensions greater than 3, a hypersurface with a Gutkin property different from a round sphere, if it exists, must be of constant width and, moreover, it must have very special geometric properties. In the 2D case we prove a rigidity result for Gutkin billiard tables. This is done with the help of a new generating function introduced recently for billiards in our joint paper with Mironov. In the present paper a formula for the generating function in higher dimensions is found.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2281-2293 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Nonlinearity |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 10 Apr 2018 |
Keywords
- Birkhoff billiards
- bodies of constant width
- geodesics
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Applied Mathematics
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Mathematical Physics