Devil's Staircase -- Rotation Number of Outer Billiard with Polygonal Invariant Curves

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss rotation number on the invariant curve of a one parameter family of outer billiard tables. Given a convex polygon $\eta$, we can construct an outer billiard table $T$ by cutting out a fixed area from the interior of $\eta$. $T$ is piece-wise hyperbolic and the polygon $\eta$ is an invariant curve of $T$ under the billiard map $\phi$. We will show that, if $\beta $ is a periodic point under the outer billiard map with rational rotation number $\tau = p / q$, then the $n$th iteration of the billiard map is not the local identity at $\beta$. This proves that the rotation number $\tau$ as a function of the area parameter is a devil's staircase function.