Bifurcations in the family of billiards associated with the curvature flow

Abstract

We describe some dynamical properties of one parameter families of billiards on convex curves (ovals) which are deformed by the curvature (curve-shortening) flow. We obtain the bifurcations of the period two orbits and some special non-Birkhoff orbits, the normal periodic orbits. We prove the destruction of non-convex caustics of the ellipse by deforming it through the curvature flow.