Chaos in polygonal billiards

Talk by Francisco Arana-Herrera

Speaker invited by: Prof. Dr. Corinna Ulcigrai

Date: 18.03.26  Time: 13.30 - 14.30  Room: ETH HG G 19.1

We discuss how chaos, i.e., sensitivity to initial conditions, arises in the setting of polygonal billiards. In particular, we give a complete classification of the rational polygons whose billiard flow is weak mixing in almost every direction, proving a longstanding conjecture of Gutkin. This is joint work with Jon Chaika and Giovanni Forni. No previous knowledge on the subject will be assumed.