Geodesic and billiard flows on quadrics in pseudo-Euclidean spaces: L-A pairs and Chasles theorem

Abstract

In this article we construct L--A representations of geodesic flows on quadrics and of billiard problems within ellipsoids in the pseudo--Euclidean spaces. A geometric interpretation of the integrability analogous to the classical Chasles theorem for symmetric ellipsoids is given. We also consider a generalization of the billiard within arbitrary quadric allowing virtual billiard reflections.

arXiv commentminor changes, 16 pages, 2 figures, to appear in International Mathematics Research Notices