Webrelaunch 2020

The Veech alternative for billiard tables (Summer Semester 2008)

In this seminar, we study trajectories of balls on a billiard table. We do not only consider ordinary billiard tables, but more general ones that are given by polygons. However, the Veech alternative should hold for such billiard tables: either a trajectory is periodic or visits every region of the billiard table equally often. Billiard tables with this property are being investigated in today's mathematical research, for example in dynamical systems and in algebraic geometry.

For a description of the seminar with further information, see the announcement.

Some notes from the seminar (no claim for completeness or correctness):

  • Here is a short discussion of the properties uniquely ergodic and minimal of a dynamical system: ergodic vs. minimal (in german)
Schedule
Seminar: Friday 14:00-15:30 Seminarraum 12
Lecturers
Lecturer Prof. Dr. Frank Herrlich
Office hours: By appointment (per e-mail)
Room 1.022 Kollegiengebäude Mathematik (20.30)
Email: herrlich@kit.edu
Lecturer JProf. Dr. Gabriela Weitze-Schmithüsen
Office hours:
Room Kollegiengebäude Mathematik (20.30)
Email:
Lecturer Dr. André Kappes
Office hours: Wann immer ich da bin.
Room 1.036 Kollegiengebäude Mathematik (20.30)
Email: andre.kappes@kit.edu