Skip to main content
Article
Dynamics of a Gravitational Billiard with a Hyperbolic Lower Boundary
Chaos (1999)
  • Matthew L. Ferguson, Texas Christian University
  • B. N. Miller, Texas Christian University
  • M. A. Thompson, Texas Christian University
Abstract
Gravitational billiards provide a simple method for the illustration of the dynamics of Hamiltonian systems. Here we examine a new billiard system with two parameters, which exhibits, in two limiting cases, the behaviors of two previously studied one-parameter systems, namely the wedge and parabolic billiard. The billiard consists of a point mass moving in two dimensions under the influence of a constant gravitational field with a hyperbolic lower boundary. An iterative mapping between successive collisions with the lower boundary is derived analytically. The behavior of the system during transformation from the wedge to the parabola is investigated for a few specific cases. It is surprising that the nature of the transformation depends strongly on the parameter values.
Publication Date
December 1, 1999
Publisher Statement
This document was originally published by American Institute of Physics in Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science. This work is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 . Details regarding the use of this work can be found at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. doi: 10.1063/1.166467
Citation Information
Matthew L. Ferguson, B. N. Miller and M. A. Thompson. "Dynamics of a Gravitational Billiard with a Hyperbolic Lower Boundary" Chaos Vol. 9 Iss. 4 (1999)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_ferguson/2/