Dynamical billiards
Billar dinámico
- Date
- 1970 · confidence low
- Place
- Moscow, Russia
- Credited to
- Yakov Sinai
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
Dynamical systems in which a particle moves in a straight line and bounces elastically off a boundary; Yakov Sinai proved the ergodicity of such billiards in regions with convex obstacles, laying the groundwork for deterministic chaos.
What it led to
- a foundational model of deterministic chaos and ergodic theory
- applied to statistical physics and the kinetic theory of gases
- 'Sinai billiards' are a reference case in dynamical systems